Online Feedback and Parent Teacher Conversations

Parents are reminded that their daughter’s Assessment Task Feedback and Results are accessible via Siena Central. Email notifications will be sent when your daughter’s work has been marked. Log into the Parent Portal, select your daughter’s name in the side menu and select 'Grades' from the options. The percentage result and teacher comments are published through Siena Central for all assessed tasks.

The Parent Teacher interviews provide an excellent opportunity to continue the conversation with your daughter’s subject teachers around her learning. Thank you to those parents who attended our Term 1 interviews. These conversations enable a further discussion of your daughter’s attainment regarding the Classroom Learning Indicators and her interim academic progress.

At the end of Semester 1 parents will receive a Statement of Results via Siena Central indicating your daughter’s overall result for the subject and her performance against the Classroom Learning Indicators. Year 12 Statement of Results will indicate the satisfactory or non satisfactory completion of the Unit of Study.

If you have any questions or difficulties accessing the Siena Central Parent Portal or the online feedback, please contact IT Help at the College on 9835 0200 or ithelp@siena.vic.edu.au

Year 7 and 9 NAPLAN

Students in Years 7 and 9 will participate in NAPLAN Online Testing from Wednesday, 15 May to Friday, 17 May. Students are assessed using common national tests in Reading, Writing, Conventions of Language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and Numeracy.  These tests provide a snapshot of the progress that individuals and the cohort are making in comparison to state and national standards. 

Parents, guardians and students have received an initial letter regarding device requirements. We ask for your support in ensuring that your daughter has all required materials for the tests. Students and parents are required to ensure all required hardware (iPad/Laptop and headphones) is fully functioning and brought to school every day during the test period. If a student does not have the required hardware, unfortunately she will not be able to undertake the test. Please see the test schedule below:

NAPLAN Schedule

Support can be arranged for students with disabilities, if the student regularly uses similar support for classroom assessment tasks. Parental consent is required before any support due to disability or exemption is granted. If your daughter requires disability assistance, please contact Mrs. Ansalie Hanrahan, Head of Learning Enhancement. 

Parents and guardians will receive their daughter’s results when available, usually in September.

For more information about NAPLAN Online, including the public demonstration site, please visit the VCAA website at www.vcaa.vic.edu.au or the NAP website at https://www.nap.edu.au/online-assessment/public-demonstration-site

Siena Central Parent Survey

Thank you to all parents who participated in the Siena Central Parent Survey. Your feedback is greatly appreciated and will inform how we continue to improve our communication platform. Concerns regarding login issues and ease of information location have been noted. It is pleasing to see overwhelming support for the platform as a successful means of parents understanding and receiving feedback on their daughter’s learning and a portal for all College information. Parents are encouraged to access their daughter’s class pages to further understand daily learning and engage with home learning requirements.

In Semester 2, we hope to enable parent access to the Subject Course Page. This will enable parents to access all subject resources, giving parents the same access as students. Parents will be notified when this feature is available.

Student Leadership News

The Year 7 and 8 Leadership Workshop Series commenced on Monday, 18 March, with forty enthusiastic students participating. The first two sessions have focused on the principles of servant leadership, and leadership in a Dominican context. The next workshop will be on Thursday, 28 March, with a focus on Student Leadership at Siena College, and students will be briefed on the process to apply for a Year 7 or Year 8 Student Leader position. Applications will be due on Monday, 1 April, with elections scheduled to take place early in Term 2.

A group of Year 11 and 12 students have commenced training in group discussion facilitation, and will be leading a current affairs discussion group commencing in Term 2. This group will be open to all students to attend, to discuss issues and events of interest to them. More details will be made available at the start of Term 2.

The SRC ran a fundraising event on Wednesday, 20 March to raise money for Caritas’ annual Project Compassion campaign. There were two awards available in the House based competition. One for the longest line of coins, and the other for the highest value line. It was a great success, with $1100 raised for Project Compassion, and was an enjoyable event led by our student leaders. There are more events planned this week to raise awareness and funds for Project Compassion, including a Sports Uniform Day, a “Bucket Challenge Relay”, and a Bake Sale organised by the Waratah House Leaders.

The following reports are from Student Leaders about recent Siena College events:

Siena College Fun Run

On the 24 March Siena College held its third Fun Run at Wattle Park. I had the opportunity to volunteer at the cake stall in the morning and it was so good to see the amount of time and effort students had put into their baked goods! The SPA volunteers running the cake stall and the hot breakfast food and sausages did an amazing job on the day and I know everyone was grateful for the food after the race. The day consisted of a 4km fun run and the popular 4km colour run, running and walking the race was lots of fun with friends, nearly as fun as washing all the dye out of at the end of the day. Overall, it was a very enjoyable day.

Emily Hodder, Cassia House Captain

Project Compassion Coin Line Fundraiser

On Wednesday we had our Coin Line fundraiser for Caritas’ Project Compassion. The atmosphere at the event was one filled with zealous spirit and a desire to raise money. In the end, Kurrajong won the ‘Longest Line Award’ with a staggering 58 metres and Dianella won the ‘Line Value Award’ raising $322.95. It was great that we were able to raise a total of $1101 for this great cause. It was amazing to see the girls come together in solidarity with the world’s poor to help end poverty, promote justice and uphold dignity through such a successful event! 

Eliza Kral, Waratah House Captain

Current Affairs Conversation Club Coming Soon!

Starting early next term, Siena will be introducing our very own current affairs discussion group. This is open to all students and we would love to see as many girls from all different year levels, who are interested in learning more about issues in the news. 

The discussion group will provide students with a platform to discuss and debate all sorts of current affairs. Don’t hesitate to come along, the discussion group will be an excellent way to learn about issues and is a fantastic way to immerse yourself in the variety of opinions in our school! 

If you have any suggestions of an interesting topic, feel free to contact us!

Valentina Boulter, Year 12

With the impending Siena Immersion experience at Kopanang, near Johannesburg, South Africa, the Year 11 Politics class along with Immersion participants conducted a mock election to raise funds for our South African friends.  

Six 'candidates' from the main Australian political parties delivered probing speeches covering current pertinent policies. The receptive crowd was encouraged to buy as many votes as possible and then record their preferences in order to raise funds for the trip. 

Consequently Kampaign Kopanang 2019 raised over $700 which will buy sanitary products, basic stationery items and sewing and craft items for the women and children at Kopanang in the next few weeks. 

Congratulations to all girls for such sterling performances and marvellous contributions for a good cause. We look forward to news of the exploits in Kopanang 2019.

‘Playing’ with the Conventions of Commedia dell Arte

Our VCE Drama students are currently preparing for their first Outcome, a self devised ensemble performance. To support their process and extend their knowledge of performance styles, students have participated in workshops exploring a range of styles including Epic Theatre, Physical Theatre, Theatre of Cruelty and Commedia dell Arte. We were very fortunate to have Rosa Campagnaro, the Director of Make a Scene Theatre Company, visit Siena College last week to facilitate a three hour practical workshop with our students. The workshop covered the historical context and origins of the style, the stock characters and importance of mask and the absurdity and comical conventions of the style. It was wonderful to see the students extend themselves physically and ‘play’ with the conventions. They will now consolidate and embed this knowledge into their own performance work.

Top Class Drama: An Excursion to Inspire

VCE Drama students visited the Playhouse Theatre on Wednesday, 13 March as part of VCAA's Season of Excellence concerts and exhibitions. Our students viewed and analysed a range of highly skilled Drama students perform their solo work to an enthusiastic audience. The Chief Assessor for Drama was also present and shared a number of important tips and gave advice to students about how to approach the task. This extended learning opportunity works to inspire our students as they will begin preparing for their own solo examination next term. 

Last week Siena College celebrated Harmony Week. We reflected on the message of inclusion at various times, in the Pastoral period, at lunchtime and in academic classes. Given the recent events in Christchurch, all students were asked to reflect on how we can embed harmony in our community. In classrooms, students were asked to reflect on how our actions towards others cultivate a sense of belonging and a spirit of compassion within our Siena community. 

In the pastoral period we celebrated Australian multiculturalism by sharing our families’ backgrounds and journeys to Australia and the successful integration of migrants into our Victorian community.

At lunchtime on Friday afternoon, our Year 12 and Year 7 students participated in a Big Sister Little Sister Shared Lunch activity, which aimed to deepen the connection between our junior and senior students and build empathy towards one another in our Siena community. 

The Big Sister Little Sister lunch gave us an opportunity to catch up with our little sisters and get to know them better. It was a great experience and allowed many points of similarity to be found not only with our little sisters but also other Year 7s. This created a sense of cohesion and harmony between the two year levels, which usually interact separately.
Eliza Belleville, Year 12

The Big Sister Little Sister Shared Lunch gave us an opportunity to bond with our little sisters in a relaxed and positive environment. It allowed us to see points of similarity between the Year 7s and Year 12s, creating a sense of belonging and community.
Hannah Walsh, Year 12

The Big Sister Little Sister lunch was amazing! It was a great activity that promoted Harmony Week because we were all able to share experiences and food with one another. It was a lunchtime filled with laughter and fun which I think was the most important part. 
Lila Walsh, Year 7

Arts Centre Tour and Performance of Lady in the Van

The Year 10 Drama students recently travelled into the city to see Allen Bennett’s play, The Lady in the Van. Before the performance we took part in a tour of the Arts Centre. We learnt about different theatre spaces, stages, architecture and design and the history of the buildings. Following this informative tour we enjoyed lunch at Southbank before the performance, starring Miriam Margolyes in the Playhouse Theatre. We found the performance very enjoyable and loved the city experience.

In Drama class we are currently analysing and evaluating the performance with a focus on how an actor creates a character, the use of production areas including lighting, sound, set design and direction, and how these work to help tell a story creatively and symbolically. We also analyse mood and how an actor-audience relationship is created.

FUN FACTS: DID YOU KNOW?

• The State Theatre is the fourth largest stage in the world?
• There are over 70,000 golden spheres on top of the State Theatre roofline that are purely decorative
• Each of the four theatres at the Arts Centre use contrasting colour palettes that are inspired by Australian foods and minerals
• The walls that adorn the theatre and foyers are made of velvet, leather, gold leaf, marble and concrete pillars that have been painted to look like marble
• Swarovski crystals make up the chandeliers in Hamer Hall
• The top of Arts Centre spire was designed to resemble a ballerina’s tutu
• Like an iceberg, only ten percent of the Arts Centre appears above ground. The other ninety percent is underground, going down approximately 6 to 8 levels

Ally Yarak and Anastazia Maddaluno

With the end of Term 1 fast approaching, Siena College has successfully qualified for several finals. Please see below for teams involved:

We have had over four hundred girls sign up for a GSV sport in Term 2, a fantastic result.  We have entered six AFL Teams, nineteen Netball teams, three Hockey Teams, one Water polo Team and an Aerobics and Cross Country squad. We will also continue to run a casual walking/run club in to Term 2 however this will be modified to include Pilates and bootcamp as the weather becomes less predictable.

Well done to all girls who participated in the four Touch Rugby clinics run by the Melbourne Rebels this term. We are hopeful that Touch Rugby will become a GSV sport offered to girls in 2020 and this has been an excellent opportunity for girls in Years 7 and 8 to try it out. Thank you to Mr Morris for all his work in offering this opportunity for the girls.

Well done to Jaimie Guan for placing third in the State Karate Tournament and to Teah Wilson who won gold, breaking her personal best and the Little Athletics record in Shot Put at the Little Athletics Victoria championships. Two fantastic results and we congratulate these girls on their individual achievements.

Next week students in Years 10 and 11 will participate in a variety of careers experiences as part of Activities Week.  Year 10s will be completing their academic and careers testing (results available next term) as well as participating in the 'Shape you Destiny' workshop.  Year 11s will be visited by all major tertiary institutions for presentations on courses, careers, pathways and information on post school options.

Items in this week’s Siena Career News include - 

• Dates to Diarise in Term 2
• News from Monash University
• School Holiday Campus Tours
• New Courses in Applied Science
• News from Swinburne University
• The High Achievers Program at Swinburne
• Course Updates
• Defence University Sponsorship (DUS)
• Useful Tips for a University Degree Wannabe (UDW)
• Nursing and/or Midwifery Degree Courses in Victoria

Student Reflection: 
                                        

On Tuesday, 19 March, the combined Year 11 and Year 12 VCE Music Performance class attended the Top Class Concert of 2019, at the Melbourne Recital Centre. The concert is composed of students who have completed either Music Performance, Music Investigation or VCE VET Music Industry in the previous year, and who achieved a perfect score in their performance exam. They are then asked to play a particular piece in which their performance of the piece stood out against everyone else in the state.

 Our class attended two concerts, both featuring many very different and inspiring musicians. The instruments which featured across the two concerts included Clarinet, Harp, Cello, Marimba, Viola, Violin, Tuba, Guitar, Trumpet, Piano, Voice, Flute, Bassoon, Drum Kit, Electric Bass, and Tabla. Most of the instruments played by students in out VCE class were covered, so the majority of students had at least one performance that was specifically related to their instrument, that they could take specific pieces of detail and information from to apply to their own instrumental skills. 

We were particularly impressed by the performances on the Harp, Tuba, Drums, Electric Bass and Tabla, as these instruments are different from the instruments we hear in class, at school. The girl who played Electric Bass, Ashleigh Howell (Catholic Ladies College), for example, played David Bowie’s 'Isn’t She Lovely' with a backing track, and was commended by VCAA for her original interpretation of the piece, while maintaining part of David Bowie’s original performance. Many of us would agree that this performance was one of the best versions of that song that we have ever heard. 

The traditional Tabla performance by Rithvik Chand (Lakeview Senior College), accompanied by another musician playing the Indian instrument, the sitar, was intriguing and exciting and a valuable insight into Indian culture. Whilst we are able to listen to Indian music online or on Spotify, we do not gain the same experience as seeing a live performance or even the experience of playing the instrument. The tabla is a small set of two drums, played sitting down, and with different parts of your hand. Chand used the palm, fingertips, and heel of his hand fluently and accurately at extremely fast tempos in order to create different tone colour on the instrument, and creating and exciting musical character by increasing the tempo each time the song was repeated. 

These were just two of the amazing performances, which we learnt so much from. The excursion gave us the chance to think about stage presence, articulation, dynamics, fluency, musicality and phrasing and various other musical performance elements so that we may take what we learnt and put it into practice for out own future performances, enhancing our abilities and musical potential even further.

Madeline Brown, Year 12 Music Performance

The Health and Physical Education faculty has enjoyed a very busy and exciting Term 1 for 2019.  Our Year 7 students have been participating in an Invasion Games unit. The focus of this unit of work is to use small sided team games to develop levels of tactical understanding and game strategy, which can then be transferred to sports throughout the year. The Invasion Games unit is a fun and exciting way to start Year 7 Physical Education, and there have been some very creative games going on in classes! 

Year 9 students have been participating in a Sport Education in a Physical Education Program (SEPEP) Volleyball unit. In this unit, the students play in a team based Volleyball competition where they are also asked to complete various roles including scoring, umpiring, compiling results, creating ladders and in some cases even media reports.

“The SEPEP Volleyball unit really helped us gradually improve our skills, we had to use a lot of teamwork and communication. All the games were fun and competitive, and everyone got involved. Within our team we all had roles to play such as captain, scorers and umpires, this helped us feel like we were contributing and applying our knowledge of the game. Overall, our team really enjoyed this experience”.
Sophie Gazzola 

“This unit focused on teamwork and communication. We had high energy between the team and excitement for the game. We learnt how to apply the skills of Volleyball gradually in the unit and to communicate effectively with each other to play fairly”.
Trinity Ng 

In Food Technology, students studying Healthy Food by Design have been involved in a project with The Food Security Network. This program is designed to offer the students a realistic insight into the diverse members of their community suffering food insecurity. The students are taught how to plant, maintain and harvest a productive crop of fresh produce which is then donated to members of the community in need. In Term 2, our students will visit the Asylum Seeker Refuge Centre to donate the produce once freshly harvested from their gardens. 

“I learnt how to prepare a garden before we plant vegetables in it. I’m looking forward to delivering the food to the asylum seekers and seeing their reactions to the fresh food”.
Jolene Gammilonghi

“So far I have learnt how to keep the soil fresh and nutritious, so our plants can grow effectively. I am looking forward to watching our garden grow and eventually pick the vegetables and hand them over to the asylum seekers”.
Jordyn Kourmadias

Unit One Religion and Society Excursion – Year 10

As part of their study of Religion and Society, the Year 10 cohort embarked on a visit to the Jewish Holocaust Centre and St Kilda Hebrew Congregation to enhance their understanding of the Jewish religious tradition and learn about Judaism in Australia. It was an opportunity to see how religions and the societies in which they exist have a dynamic interrelationship – each can impact each other significantly and the consequences can be enriching or devastating. 

Student reflection:

The highlight of the day was learning about the tribulations that Jewish adherents had experienced during the Holocaust and throughout other points in history at the Jewish Holocaust Museum. I learnt more about the camaraderie between Jewish people in the concentration camps, and how the values of Judiaism had connected victims of the Holocaust together spiritually. Although the Holocaust was a disastrous event, it laid the foundation for strong bonds within the Jewish community and demonstrated the strength and endurance of Jewish adherents as well as the loyalty they had to each other and God.  I often wonder about how the Holocaust affected non Jewish people that were affiliated with victims of the Holocaust. I think of the non Jewish people that had family and friends that were victims of the concentration camps and how it may have changed their outlook on the events that occurred during that period of time. I would also like to know more about what non Jewish people did to help Jewish adherents that were prosecuted during the Nazi regime. 

Eleanor Fels, Year 10

How important do you believe interfaith dialogue is to creating peace?

The role of interfaith dialogue is to connect adherents from various religions to discover similarities and differences between them, and cultivate respect and high esteem for the values and beliefs that others hold. Interfaith dialogue creates a connected community where we can understand the culture of others, and how it may affect their personal outlook on life. Due to interfaith dialogue, people around the world have been able to gain an understanding of the Jewish faith, and what it means to its adherents. When we don’t understand something or are not exposed to it, we can find it threatening. Sharing our values and beliefs to others through interfaith dialogue can foster an appreciation of religions other than our own. It is important to explore the diversity of other religions to further develop an understanding of a different culture and way of life.

The Year 7 students had a wonderful opportunity to experience and participate in the annual chess incursion on Wednesday, 27 February, organised by the Learning Enhancement Department. Chess coaches Vanya, Denise, Nikayla and Chelsea from Dark Horse Chess taught the girls how to play and some clever strategies of the game. 

After the initial welcome and introduction to the coaches, each student was placed into a group based on her level of experience and expertise in playing chess. All levels of ability were represented, from absolute first time beginners to advanced chess strategists. In their groups, the students worked with one of the four Dark Horse staff to learn more about the game, to become familiar with and practise the different moves of each chess piece and to apply strategy.  

The Year 7 students enjoyed the day immensely.  Some of the skills that learning chess helps to develop are:

• Pattern visualization
• Patience
• Memory
• Abstract reasoning
• Originality and creativity
• Awareness of the consequences of actions
• Confidence and self-esteem
• Concentration and focus
• Self-discipline
• Planning
• Problem solving

Siena also offers all students the opportunity to join the Chess Club, which meets every Wednesday at lunchtime in the Learning Centre.  Club members benefit from the support of Denise, a staff member of Dark Horse Chess.  Denise attends each week during the term, coaching and encouraging the students to build upon and practise their skills, regardless of level. Those students who attend may have the opportunity to participate in chess tournaments at other schools to further enhance their chess skills. It is also a wonderful opportunity to see the girls from all year levels enjoy each other’s company and to play against each other.

Student Reflection

On Monday, 18 March we participated in a session with ‘Robogals’, an inspiring group of women in engineering. With a combined class of Year 9 and 10 students, the ‘Robogals’ placed us into groups of two or three and gave each group a robot. They also gave us a computer, with the program Mindstorms on it, designed to communicate with the hardware of the robot, and make it do particular functions. First, we had to make our robot turn and reverse. Using the symbols and loop functions on the program, we eventually managed to make our robots have a wrestling tournament! A square was marked with tape on the floor and all the robots stayed in this square. Using light intensity features, in the settings section of the robot, and program, the robots reversed every time they reached the tape. We each lined up our robot and off they went, ramming into each other. It was a delight to see which robot would win. This session with ‘Robogals’, inspired and made me want to pursue a job in engineering. The ‘Robogals’, enlightened me on the different sorts of engineering, and the role of engineering in our society, along with exciting career opportunities in the future!

Amanda Marasco SKA 

Home Learning Club

Students in Years 7 to 10 are invited to attend an after school Home Learning Club. This is a valuable opportunity for students to receive some assistance with their home learning. 

Beginning in Week 1 of Term 2, the program will operate each Wednesday afternoon from 3.30pm to 4.30 pm in the Albertus Magnus Learning Centre classroom. A staff member from the Learning Enhancement Department will supervise the program and will provide support as needed to students as they work on home learning tasks. An attendance roll will be taken at each session and students will be required to sign in and out of each session. 

If you would like your daughter to attend these weekly sessions, please complete the Expression of Interest form and email to ahanrahan@siena.vic.edu.au   A Care Monkey permission form will then be sent to you to complete.

Please contact me if you have any questions regarding this program.

Home Learning EOI (123 KB)   
> View Document

Student Reflection

In Week 6, the Year 12 Literature class had the opportunity to participate in an incursion where actors performed scenes from Tennessee Williams’ play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. We were fortunate to share this experience with students from Koonung Secondary College and Camberwell Girls’ Grammar School, who are also studying the play. The skilful performances of the actors provoked much discussion amongst the students as we shared our individual interpretations of the play, the playwright’s message and how it impacts the audience. Seeing the three actors perform was an immersive experience which let us momentarily travel to the world of the play and more closely experience the powerful emotions of characters and tense atmospheres of scenes. This developed our understanding of the story while revealing the skill and detailed interpretation which actors need to portray characters according to the playwright’s wishes. The incursion helped us to build our own unique interpretations of techniques and characters and enriched our study of literature showing how written texts can be transformed into dynamic representations of meaning. 
Emilee Molcik Year 12

Camberwell Lacrosse Club is a local community club based in Ashburton/Glen Iris that competes in junior and senior male and female lacrosse competition in Melbourne. Our club is preparing for the winter season and is looking for children who would like to give lacrosse a go. It is a great sport for kids of all ages because it is active and builds team work and self esteem. More details about the club are on the web at www.clclax.org.au

Marking Ash Wednesday

Do I live for fire or for ash?

It is a centuries old tradition for the Pope to celebrate the Eucharist on Ash Wednesday at Santa Sabina in Rome – the headquarters of the Dominican Family.  In his homily this year, Pope Francis reflected:

“Today we have been offered a sign that will help us find our direction: the head marked by ash. It is a sign that causes us to consider what occupies our mind. Our thoughts often focus on transient things, which come and go. The small mark of ash, which we will receive, is a subtle yet real reminder that of the many things occupying our thoughts, that we chase after and worry about every day, nothing will remain.”

“The culture of appearance prevalent today, which persuades us to live for passing things, is a great deception. It is like a blaze: once ended, only ash remains. Lent is the time to free ourselves from the illusion of chasing after dust. Lent is for rediscovering that we are created for the inextinguishable flame, not for ashes that immediately disappear…we should ask ourselves today: Where do I stand? Do I live for fire or for ash?”

Weekly Eucharist

Each Thursday at 8.00am our Chaplain Fr Kevin Toomey OP celebrates Eucharist with us in our College Chapel - students, staff, parents and members of the Siena community are always welcome. In coming weeks at this Eucharist we will also be blessing students and staff participating in the South African Immersion (21 March) and the Italy Language and Culture trip (28 March).

Activities Week

A reminder that Years 7 to 12 Activities Week will run in the final week of Term 1. This program is well planned and supports the learning and wellbeing of our students.  We ask for your support in student attendance. Parents will receive individual year level notices next week. 

Please note, the Year 9 Siena in the City program is a four day program, commencing on Tuesday, 2 April and concluding on Friday, 5 April.

Parent Teacher Interviews

The Parent Teacher Interviews are now open for bookings. There are two sessions available, on Thursday, 21 March and Thursday, 28 March from 4.00pm to 7.30pm in the gymnasium. We encourage you to review your daughter’s interim report beforehand, in order to address any questions you may have. 

We look forward to meeting with you at these sessions.

Welcome to New Staff

Belinda Duncan, Head of Religious Education

Belinda commenced her role at Siena College towards the end of 2018 and we are thrilled to have her as part of the Siena family. Belinda teaches Years 7 and 11 English, Year 9 Religious Education and Year 12 Religion and Society. She graduated from Monash and ACU and is highly experienced, having taught for 18 years whilst having some breaks to travel and work in the agricultural sector.

One of her great loves is being in the outdoors; gardening, camping, or hiking.

Natalie Kinsella, Head of Student Wellbeing Dianella

Natalie comes to us from Presentation College Windsor where she fulfilled varied roles over an eight year period: Sport Coordinator, Health and PE Faculty Leader, Year 7 coordinator, Year 8 Coordinator and Head of House (Years 10-12 and Years 7-12). Natalie began her teaching career at St Aloysius College where she taught for three years. 

In addition to her role of Head of Student Wellbeing Dianella, Natalie teaches Year 9 Physical Education, Year 11 Physical Education and Year 12 Health and Human Development.

She is a passionate Tigers supporter and netballer.

Big Sister, Little Sister PJ Party

Coloured pyjamas, comfy slippers and broad smiles epitomised this year’s gathering.  Year 12 Big Sisters welcomed their Year 7 Little Sisters into the College Gymnasium for a fun night of dancing, singing and general frivolity.  This long-standing tradition is another highlight of the Transition Program for students at Siena College and one that both year levels will remember fondly. 

This month on SchoolTV - Grief & Loss

Grief is a natural response to loss. It might be the loss of a loved one, relationship or even a pet. The more significant the loss, the more intense the grief is likely to be. Children and adults grieve differently due to their developmental stage, and this can prove difficult for parents to understand. 

Young children fluctuate in and out of the stages of grief rapidly, as they may not comprehend the permanency of death. They express their grief more physically. Teens on the other hand may not know how to express their grief and will need some space to process their loss. Some may choose to grieve alone, not wanting to stand out or be seen as not coping. 

In this edition of SchoolTV, parents can learn how to acknowledge their child’s feelings and the best way to support them through the grief.

If you have any concerns about your child, please contact the school counsellor for further information

I am pleased to announce Siena College will again be involved in the 2019 CASE (California Association for STEAM Education) Space School International Study Program. Through our partnerships in the USA, students have the unique opportunity to join this once in a lifetime experience, going inside NASA facilities and having hands on learning experiences in many other exclusive places.

This program is designed to develop leaders for the next generation and empower and prepare our girls for the fastest growing and most sought after occupations of the 21^st century. Through the unique access to NASA facilities, inspiring guest speakers and training programs, students have reported becoming more focused and inquisitive to pursue the subjects they are interested in.  

This is a fantastic opportunity to learn beyond the classroom in the most inspiring environment.  There is a one hour information session about this exciting opportunity to be held at the Susan Alberti Auditorium on Tuesday, 26 March (see image below for session times). We request that you complete the RSVP form, to ensure we have enough materials for all attendees.  This is a once in a lifetime experience for your daughter and I encourage you to attend this evening information session.

Night of Jazz

This year for Siena’s Night of Jazz we are delighted to have Tamara Murphy as the special guest artist working with our students. Tamara is a versatile bassist and composer, known for her solid groove playing and lyrical solo ability. She performs regularly with many leading contemporary jazz and pop musicians in Australia. Tamara has also received numerous grants to record her music and studied in the US and Canada. 

For further information about Tamara Murphy visit  http://tamaramurphy.com/bio/

Siena’s Night of Jazz will feature our Stage Band, Sisters of Swing, Groove Train, Junior Jammers and soloists held on the 27 March at the Manningham Hotel. Our ensembles have been rehearsing very hard for this event and the upcoming Generations in Jazz Tour.  Please click on the image below to book tickets.

Music Department Dates Fridge Magnets

This year we will be distributing our new Music Department Dates fridge magnets to students (one per family) at ensemble rehearsals. Students who may have missed out can collect one from the Music office. Please note some music dates including the Victorian School Music Festival dates, workshops and masterclasses have not been included because the dates were not available at the time of printing. 

Instrumental Music Lessons

The Music department has been abuzz with excitement the past few weeks with new students attending their first Instrumental Music lessons. We have had students take up string, woodwind, brass and percussion instruments along with voice, piano and guitar. The Junior Ensembles have all started rehearsing and we encourage families to be supportive as our young musicians set up their home learning routine. The joys of the first noises of music making should be enjoyed and remembered as they won’t last long. Parents are asked to support their daughters by reviewing the music diaries and taking an interest in their music 

Any students who still wish to learn an instrument are asked to return their enrolment forms to the music office as soon as possible. 

Term 1 Music Dates

GSV Weekly Sport

Siena College has been competing strongly in GSV Indoor Cricket, Tennis and Softball, with standout recent results including:

Siena Inter Bs (Indoor Cricket) defeated Camberwell Girls Grammar by 121 runs
Siena Senior Softball defeated PLC, 16 runs to 3
Siena Junior Tennis defeated Genazzano, 7 sets to 1

General Sport News

We are already looking towards Term 2 with students signing up to Senior Water Polo (one team), Hockey (three teams), Cross Country, AFL (six teams) and Netball (twenty-one teams). We will be organising fixtures, training venues and trials over the next three weeks and girls will be notified shortly.

Siena College was well represented at the GSV Preliminary Swimming at Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre on Friday, 1 March with a number of strong individual diving and swimming performances. The teams have now been selected for the GSV Division 2 Swimming and Diving Championships on Tuesday, 19 March at MSAC. Parents are more than welcome to come along and support their daughter. Swimming will take place between 8.00am to 12.00pm and Diving between 12.00pm to 3.45pm.

On Wednesday, 6 March, sixteen students from Siena College attended the Susan Alberti AFLW Breakfast, along with Principal Gaynor-Robson Garth and three other staff members. It was an inspiring and educational event, with the students meeting a number of high profile female athletes and personalities. 

House Swimming Carnival

We had our Inter House Swimming and Diving Carnival at Boroondara Sports Complex on Friday, 8 March. With 680 girls signed up to participate in at least one event it was a fantastic day with Swimming, Ironwoman, Novelty, Diving for Fun and Competitive Diving events all on display. Congratulations to Dianella, our 2019 champions. Award winners are listed below. Many thanks to all involved with organising the carnival, a particular thanks to the House Captains for all their work behind the scenes.

Siena College 2019 House Swimming Carnival Winners 

We wish to congratulate Anais Johnstone, who represented her local club, Nunawading, in the Victorian State Open Swimming Championships (15 to 17 February 2019, competing in three events) and the Tasmanian State Swimming Championships (7 to 11 March 2019, winning one gold and two silver medals). Anais has been working very hard to maintain a balance between her swimming training and her school commitments and it is testament to her that she continues to go from strength to strength in the water. We wish her all the best for the upcoming Australian Age Swimming Championships in Adelaide (15 to 22 April 2019). 

Siena College has begun touch rugby for Year 7s and 8s, run in partnership with Rugby Australia and the Melbourne Rebels Women’s team, providing the students with a non traditional, modified sport opportunity. Depending on student numbers, we are looking to expand the program into Term 2, 2019 onwards, with several tournaments and programs available. 

Siena College’s Aerobics trials have been completed and we look forward to another successful year in Aerobics. Building on the success of last year, we hope to put together another strong squad to challenge at the States (Victoria) and the Nationals (Gold Coast) later in the year. More information will be communicated to parents and students involved shortly.

Siena College is asking for volunteers who would be willing to coach one of our many netball teams for Term 2, with matches on Mondays (Seniors), Wednesdays (Intermediates) and Thursdays (Juniors), training to be confirmed. In addition, we encourage parents to let us know if your daughter has achieved a remarkable sporting achievement of local, state or national significance. We find that many of the girls are modest in their achievements and are reluctant to let us know!

Finally, on Tuesday, March 19, there will be an information session for Siena College’s Sport Leadership Experience to the USA in 2020, hosted in the Susan Alberti Auditorium from 6.30pm to 8.00pm. The experience is open to all girls who will be in Years 10, 11 or 12 in 2020. Parents and Students have been emailed with additional information but please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions regarding the tour.

Thank you for your continued support of sports programs at Siena College and please feel free to contact us at sport@siena.vic.edu.au if you have any questions at all.

Our Student Leaders have been busy participating in a number of events in recent weeks, including engaging in leadership development opportunities, networking with leaders from other schools, and representing Siena College at various community events and activities.

Sarah Murphy (Environment Leader) and Yasmyne Chung (Social Welfare Leader) attended the annual Student Leaders Forum, hosted by Josh Frydenberg, Federal Member for Kooyong. The focus of this year’s forum was on the environment, and provided our students the opportunity to compare sustainability strategies at different schools, and the efforts and outcomes  of various student led initiatives. It was also a chance for our students to engage in discussion regarding the government’s views related to climate change and environmental degradation, and discuss current policy as well as future opportunities for Australia to address in relation to the conservation of our environment and natural resources.

A number of Year 12 Student Leaders represented Siena College at the annual International Women’s Day Breakfast, hosted by the Alliance of Girls’ Schools Australasia.

The Siena College International Women’s Day Breakfast was held on Thursday, 7 March and the Siena College Student Leaders played in instrumental role in the planning and running of the event. All proceeds from the event will be donated to the Kopanang Community Trust to support their work in empowering the women in Tsakane, South Africa.

There will be a Year 7 and 8 Student Leadership Course commencing in Week 7. These workshops will focus on Leadership Skills in a Dominican Context, and Leadership at Siena College. Following the leadership course, participants will have the opportunity to apply for the positions of Student Leader at Years 7 and 8, joining the Siena College Leadership Team for 2019. Students may sign up for the course by contacting Ms Moody.

Reflections from our Student Leaders

On Friday 1 March, Yasmyne Chung (Veritas Leader – Social Justice) and I attended the Kooyong Environment Forum hosted by Josh Frydenberg (Federal MP for Kooyong and Treasurer of Australia) with other student leaders from selected schools in the district. The forum consisted of school groups delivering a short speech regarding their school’s initiatives towards the environment. Through listening to the other school’s views and ideas for preserving and sustaining the environment, we discovered new ways in which we can implement similar sustainable actions into our school. We thoroughly enjoyed the discussion and viewed it to be quite valuable in generating ideas for future sustainable practises at Siena College.

Sarah Murphy, Veritas Leader - Environment

On Monday 4 March, select Year 12 leaders from Siena had the privilege of attending the International Women’s Day Breakfast hosted by the Alliance of Girls’ Schools Australasia. We attended the breakfast alongside other students from girls’ schools across Victoria. Guest speaker Catherine O’Sullivan gave an empowering address about the amazing work she does, dedicating her career to women’s leadership and education. Personally, I felt both captivated and inspired by the women celebrated at the event, and their achievements in empowering young women in Australia!

Niamh Hickey, Kurrajong House Leader

Siena College hosted its annual International Women’s Day Breakfast on Thursday, 7 March. This event provided an opportunity for members of the Siena College Community to gather together to celebrate the achievements of women, whilst acknowledging the work that has been done, and is yet to be done, in the journey towards a more gender balanced world. All proceeds from the event will be donated to the Kopanang Community Trust, to continue their work in empowering women from the Tsakane township in Johannesburg, South Africa. 

Siena College has supported Refiloe Sibisi, daughter of Kopanang community member Joyce, through her tertiary studies for the past three years. Refiloe recently completed her studies and will be graduating with a Bachelor of Business in the coming months. During the breakfast, an interview between two of our Student Leaders and Refiloe Sibisi was shown, which allowed a greater insight into her life and experiences as she comes to the end of her tertiary education supported by Siena College. The interview demonstrated the power that education can have, and the privilege it is to be educated. Putting a face to the name and really understanding why we raise money through events like the IWD breakfast puts it into perspective that we are helping real people, and real change can be made through our collective efforts.

It was inspiring to hear from Siena College Alumna Ursula Harris, who works within the STEM field as a cartographer in Antarctica. She spoke about the tribulations she faced while working in a male dominated environment and how she saw the progression in attitudes towards women. It was fascinating to hear about Dr Harris' work and the way she handled testing situations with humour and determination was inspiring.

Olivia Graham, Visual Arts and Design Leader

On Wednesday, 6 March all the Year 7s listened to a presentation by performance poet Joel McKerrow. He performed three of his poems highlighting different topics such as politics, self identity, self confidence and how he is proud to have red hair and how he loves himself because of his perfect imperfections. In one of his poems about politics he used a story about his son as a metaphor to represent how he wishes that world leaders wouldn’t hurt others. 

Durinig his workshop, we learnt how he finds inspiration for his poems by using simple strategies such as flow of conscious writing, where you write about whatever you’re feeling or thinking. Another technique was creating a mind bank, where you write about the person that everyone else sees, and about a part of your personality that no one gets to see. You then find one of the phrases that you wrote down and write down whatever comes to mind when you think or imagine that particular word.  

 We feel that the workshop helped improve our poetic writing, and expanded our minds to use more diverse strategies when writing poems. We all enjoyed taking part in the workshop and listening to Joel’s ideas. 

Gabby Cossa and Zoe Smith (7D)

Twelve of our Year 8 Siena students participated in the Robogals Middle School Robotics Workshop and Competition accompanied by Ms Libby Moore and Ms Marianne De Luise. This event took place on Wednesday, 27 February at the University of Melbourne. The day began with the students learning about robotic engineering and then working in teams to engage in a friendly competition. This event was designed to increase students’ awareness and knowledge of engineering, science and technology, as well as developing skills in communication, collaboration and critical thinking. The accounts below have been written by two of the attending students and capture the excitement and learning that took place on the day.

Student Reflections

I absolutely loved my day at Robogals. I really enjoyed learning about all of the aspects of engineering and how to code robots. Before Robogals, I didn’t know how many things in our world today are included in an area of engineering, and that really opened my mind up to all of the career paths you can have as an engineer. I really liked using the ultrasonic sensors, which sense objects in front of the robot, as it was really cool to see robots navigate their way through obstacle courses. Overall, it was an amazing day and we all learnt lots about coding and engineering.
Jessica Higgins

Robogals was a fantastic opportunity and I really appreciated learning about all the different types of engineering, and the skills you would need to code robots. I learnt how engineering is applied in our everyday lives and how important it is. Engineering makes our world function better, safer and makes our lives easier such as a bridge or a tunnel. Thanks to Robogals I now have a different insight into how things work and how things are designed and made. After this experience I think engineering might be something I would like to consider as a career option.
Emma Brunton

The Year 7 students had a wonderful opportunity to participate in the annual chess incursion on Wednesday, 27 February organised by the Learning Enhancement Department. Chess coaches Vanya, Denise, Nikayla and Chelsea from Dark Horse Chess, taught the girls how to play and some clever strategies of the game.

After the initial welcome and introduction to the coaches, each student was placed into a group based on her level of experience and expertise in playing chess. All levels of ability were represented, from absolute first-time beginners to advanced chess strategists. In their groups, the students worked with one of the four Dark Horse staff to learn more about the game, to become familiar with and practise the different moves of each chess piece and to apply some clever strategies when playing. 

The Year 7 students enjoyed the day immensely and after the sessions, many girls were able to say that they had learnt something new about how to play the game. Some of the skills that learning chess helps to develop are:

• Pattern visualization
• Patience
• Memory
• Abstract reasoning
• Originality and creativity
• Awareness of the consequences of actions
• Confidence and self-esteem
• Concentration and focus
• Self discipline
• Planning
• Problem solving

Siena also offers all students the opportunity to join the Chess Club, which meets every Wednesday at lunchtime in the Learning Centre.  Club members benefit from the support of Denise, a staff member of Dark Horse Chess.  Denise attends each week during the term, coaching and encouraging the students to build upon and practise their skills, regardless of level. Those students who attend may have the opportunity to participate in chess tournaments at other schools to further enhance their chess skills. It is also a wonderful opportunity to see the girls from all year levels enjoy each other’s company and to play against each other.

This week’s Siena Career News features some school holiday activities at a few of the universities that senior students may be interested in.  Spending a day on the university campus, attending lectures, chatting to staff and students can be really helpful when deciding which university or tertiary course is for you.

If you love fashion, Box Hill Institute has a workshop on fashion illustration in the school holidays.  Latrobe University is giving secondary school students the opportunity to participate in three sessions of the students choosing.  Session included are Biomedicine, Criminology, Health Science, Nursing/Midwifery, Sport Science, Occupational Therapy, Paramedicine, Archaeology or Law to name a few.  There are also sessions for parents to attend.

Monash University are promoting new videos in which students of Medicine, Biomedical Science and Nursing discuss their chosen tertiary course and explain what a typical day involves. 

There is also an article on careers in Forensic Science and where a Bachelor of Criminology can take you.  If students or parents would like to discuss any of the news items in more detail, please feel free to contact the Careers Office.

Tuesday Professional Practice Time

Due to the success of this 2018 initiative, the Professional Practice Sessions will continue this year. During these sessions, we will cover the range of 2019 whole school priorities, including implementing a Siena Pedagogical model through our Professional Learning, Student Wellbeing Professional Learning, Strategic Planning and Dominican Education Professional Learning. As a result, each Tuesday all students will commence the day with House Group at 8.35am and will be dismissed at 2:30pm. The College buses will depart from Siena around 2:35pm. If a student has a College commitment after school (such as the College Musical), they will be able to study in the library. Year 12 students who complete private study in the Year 12 St Catherine’s Centre may continue to use that space as usual, however, all other students are expected to return home.

Staff have been very involved in the four professional practice sessions that we have run this term. In the first session, House Group teachers worked on a more consistent approach to the expectations and running of House Group. The second session was an introduction to the review process that the College will undertake this year (using the ACER National School Improvement Tool). The third session focused on using relevant and current student data to inform teaching practices and the fourth session was a presentation from Melbourne Indigenous Transition School (MITS) who led us through an understanding of working with our indigenous students. 

Our staff are working with great enthusiasm and commitment to ensure our learning and teaching is fresh, dynamic and relevant and effectively engaging our students. Our focus continues to be on ways to share our learning and to benefit student learning.

Parent Teacher Conferences

Years 7 to 12 Parent/Teacher Conferences will be held on Thursday, 21 March and Thursday, 28 March between 4.00pm and 7.30pm in the Latingata Morrom Gymnasium. Parents will receive an email when Online Bookings are available, as well as instructions on how to download and print the Interim report. The Interim report will provide information regarding the subject, classroom learning indicators and number of days absent. 

Please be aware that there are no comments on formal reports as parents receive comments linked to assessment tasks throughout the semester.

As Parent/Teacher Conferences are an important opportunity to develop a working and supportive relationship between subject teachers, parents and students, we believe that it is essential that the student attend. This allows the student to share their learning experience and participate in the conversation about their subject expectations. 

Activities Week

Year 7 to 12 Activities week will take place from 3 April to 5 April. This program is well planned and supports the learning and wellbeing of our students. We ask for your support in student attendance. Year 7 students will attend their Year 7 Camp, Year 8, 10 and 11 students will be involved in a variety of activities run from Siena, and Year 12 students will be on retreat. The Year 9 Siena in the City program is a four day program, commencing on Tuesday April 2 and concluding on April 5. Parents will receive individual year level notices in the weeks to follow. 

New Staff

Every year we have a number of new staff beginning at Siena College and I would like to introduce some of them over the next few newsletter editions.

Welcome to Dean Fleisher, Head of Languages

I was born in Montpellier, in the south of France and moved to Japan in 2001, then came to Australia seven years ago, in 2012. I teach the French language to junior and senior classes at Siena College. I have taught in many institutions, beginning my career teaching French in language schools in Japan in 2001. I was an Assistant Language Teacher in Fudooka High School (Saitama, Japan) from 2005 to 2010, then worked as a French teacher for two international schools in Tokyo (St Mary’s International School and The British School in Tokyo) from 2010 to 2012. From 2013 to 2018, I taught French and Japanese at St Monica’s College, in Epping, where I was also a Year Level Leader. I have about seventeen years of teaching experience. 

Basketball has been my passion since a very young age, and I have been coaching basketball for twenty-one years. I look forward to contributing to the sport here at Siena. I am also the father of two sporty children who keep me busy with their training and competitions.

Welcome to Andrea Carter, Leader of Pedagogy and Mathematics Teacher

Andrea studied teaching at the University of Melbourne and began her career in 1991 at Eltham College in Research as a full time teacher of Mathematics to students in Year 7 to Year 12. After five years Andrea took up a Mathematics position at Camberwell Girls Anglican School and then joined the staff as Head of Mathematics at Damascus College in Ballarat. After a five year term as Head of Mathematics at Korowa Girls Anglican School in Glen Iris, Andrea has joined us at Siena College as a Leader of Pedagogy and a Mathematics teacher. With approximately twenty years of experience in all the Mathematics streams, across all senior school year levels, Andrea brings with her a passion and love for teaching driven by a desire to make a difference in students’ lives. 

Andrea is also an avid opera fan who enjoys orchestral and chamber music. Gardening, swimming and walking are some of her many interests. She values time with her family and the opportunity to travel.

Ash Wednesday

The beginning of Lent will be marked at Siena by prayer services in each House led by senior House Captains.  The Prayer Service comprises a Gospel Reading, Prayers of the People, distribution of ashes blessed at St Dominic’s and the launch of our 2019 Caritas Project Compassion campaign – Give Lent 100%.  All House Groups will be given a Project Compassion box which students can use to collect funds across Lent to support aid and development projects in Zimbabwe, Indonesia, the Solomon Islands, Australia, Bangladesh and Vietnam. Find out more about Project Compassion here.

Lent

During the season of Lent our tradition asks us to fast from something… Technology perhaps? Try this doable Lenten Carbon Fast.
There is a current encouraging trend to take up something as well as give up something during Lent: taking action on behalf of refugees and asylum seekers, becoming better informed about a social issue, undertaking a random act of kindness, volunteering your time... 

Ask yourself: What does Lent and the approach of Autumn mean to me?
How can I tap into these annual rhythms in my personal, family and professional life? 

Engaging Student Voice at Siena College

At Siena College we hold the care, safety and wellbeing of children and young people as a central and fundamental responsibility of our College. Our commitment is drawn from and inherent in the teaching and mission of Jesus Christ, with love, justice and the sanctity of each human person at the heart of the gospel. (Siena Child Safe Policy, 2017)

Child safety remains a fundamental priority at Siena College and is central to all activities and programs.  Creating child safe school environments is a shared responsibility requiring the engagement of students, teachers, families and the broader school community. In Catholic schools, a ‘child safe culture’ is nurtured through an environment where children are respected, their voices are heard, and they are supported to feel safe and be safe (Moore et al. 2015). 

There are two significant projects that I will be working on with groups of students this year.  The first one will seek student input on their understanding of Child Safe Standards with a view to exploring students’ perceptions of safety, including their understanding of existing processes and what they feel should be done to respond to safety issues.  Students from Years 7 – 12 will be invited to participate in this forum in Term 1.  This will then form the basis of a Siena College Student Safety document that will reflect the voices of our students and inform our practice.

Siena College has also been invited to participate in research which is being conducted by Catholic Education Melbourne (CEM) in partnership with the Institute of Child Protection Studies at Australian Catholic University (ACU).  It is designed to enable schools to gather the perceptions of students regarding their safety.  You may be aware that a vital component of safe environments is the active participation of young people in building school cultures that are respectful and inclusive. In such an environment young people feel comfortable to communicate their views and concerns and actively contribute to school strategies and decisions about their safety.  Two year levels will be surveyed before the end of Term 2 and I look forward to sharing the learnings from these two projects with the Siena College community.

I am pleased to announce Siena College will be involved in the 2019 CASE (California Association for STEAM Education) Space School International Study Program. Through our partnerships in the USA, students have the unique opportunity to join this once in a lifetime experience, going inside NASA facilities and having hands on learning experiences in many other exclusive places.

This program is designed to develop leaders for the next generation and empower and prepare our girls for the fastest growing and most sought after occupations of the 21^st century. Through the unique access to NASA facilities, inspiring guest speakers and training programs, students have reported becoming more focused and inquisitive to pursue the subjects they are interested in.  

This is a fantastic opportunity to learn beyond the classroom in the most inspiring environment.  There is a one hour information session about this exciting opportunity to be held at the Susan Alberti Auditorium on Tuesday, 26 March (see image below for session times). We request that you complete the RSVP form, to ensure we have enough materials for all attendees.  This is a once in a lifetime experience for your daughter and I encourage you to attend this evening information session.

Student Learning at Siena

In conjunction with our Siena College Learning Framework, Siena Central provides the opportunity for both students and parents to engage with the classroom learning. Parent access to their daughter’s subject class pages enables direct access to daily classroom learning and home learning tasks. On the class pages, parents and students can also access the Student Overview. The Student Overview outlines all unit topics and key assessment dates and is a useful tool in assisting students to develop strong organisation skills. 

Home Learning at Siena College

All Year 7 Parents and Guardians received an email this week regarding the commencement of Home Learning. The email included the Year 7 Academic Calendar, which can also be accessed via the Siena Central Parent Portal and on Siena Central Student Zone. This calendar is a useful tool in assisting your daughter with her transition into Siena and developing time management skills. The following is a guide per year level regarding the amount of time that students should spend on home learning:

Year 7:  60-90 minutes per day
Year 8:  60-90 minutes per day
Year 9:  90 minutes per day
Year 10:  90-120 minutes per day
Year 11: 2-3 hours per day
Year 12:  3-4 hours per day

If you have any questions or difficulties accessing the Siena Central Parent Portal or the online feedback, please contact IT help at the College on 9835 0200 or ithelp@siena.vic.edu.au

We are receiving several emails and calls a day with parents unable to login to the Siena Central Portal to update "My Details" and so forth.  Often, parents report that they are able to login to Siena Central but then get a white screen when proceeding into My Details, Finance tabs etc.  

Most issues are caused by old, outdated devices, unsupported browsers and parents using auto login which has saved their child’s details.

Update My Details, Finance and Payment Plans use an advanced authentication method to check the user’s details for permission. Your device will need the following minimum requirements to access these services.  

• PC’s Windows 10 operating system, with the latest version of Google Chrome.
• Internet Explorer and Windows Edge are not support browsers.
• Apple Mac MacOS Mojave with the latest version of Safari or Google chrome.
• IPad IOS 12
• Stable Wi-Fi connection
  
  

 If your device meets these minimum requirements and the web browser does not load, try these solutions.

1. Use Google Chrome or Safari web browsers to login to Siena Central.
2. Clear the browsing history, close all tabs, close the browser and restart your device. 
3. Login manually with your supplied parent user details, this insures that the browser does not try and automatically sign in with a previously used student Siena Central Account. 
4. Use incognito or private browsing modes if the computer is shared with family members. 

Junior (Years 7 and 8) and Intermediate (Years 9 and 10) sport commenced last week for Softball, Indoor Cricket and Tennis. Senior (Year 11 and 12) girls have continued their unbeaten run with two wins from 2two outings in all sports!

The Swimming and Diving teams have been training twice a week since the beginning of term including participating in a number of practice meets at Genazzano, Ruyton and Korowa. The girls are well prepared for the Preliminary GSV Carnival at MSAC this Friday. We wish all girls the best of luck and hope for a strong result to place us in a good position for the GSV Championships in two weeks time.

Siena College participated in the GSV Triathlon in Altona last Sunday morning. Usually we have around six or seven girls sign up however this year we had a record number of fifty girls! Many of the girls were participating in their first ever triathlon. The nervous faces on the bus at 5.30am soon turned into smiles as they felt a sense of accomplishment after their race. Many thanks to Ms Catherine Ryan for all her work behind the scenes organising the girls and encouraging them to take on this fantastic opportunity. We have attached some photos of the triathlon to this article.

Last weekend Teah Wilson (Year 7) competed in the Eastern Metropolitan Region championships for shot put and won gold! This is a fantastic achievement and Teah has now been selected to compete at the State Championships later this year. She has also been selected to be mentored by Australian Olympic Swimmer, Mack Horton which she is very excited about.

Parents and students are encouraged to regularly check the Siena Central Sport page for the latest updates on fixtures, training and team selection. I email the girls prior to each week outlining venues, bus times and staffing for training and matches.

Thank you very much for your support of the sport program at Siena College.

The year has started well with all year levels involved in learning new material and consolidation from last year. Our newest students, the Year 7 cohort, have had a very positive start. They have started the year involved in a variety of concepts in geometry, with a number of activities have helped to solidify some of the concepts being covered in class. The girls have discovered angles around the school and have explored the relationships in perpendicular and parallel lines. The girls have enjoyed doing Kahoots as a way of revising ideas covered in class. Home learning will be starting this week and I am sure that the girls are looking forward to this.

At the other end of the school spectrum the Year 12 students have started well and are working hard in collaboration with their teachers. All classes are focused on ensuring the girls develop good study techniques with opportunities for consistent revision.

Maths Help is being well supported and we would love to see more girls come along on Tuesdays at lunch time in B115 to receive help with questions, complete their homework in a supported environment or just have a slightly different explanation of concepts that are being covered.

We look forward to continuing working with our students and all parents this year.

During Term 1 all online orders over $5 will receive a free 20g packet of Cobs Natural Popcorn.

Three easy steps to online ordering at Siena College Canteen

1. Create an account
    Go to http://www.school24.net.au 
    Click on Create Account, fill in your details and submit
    Please note Your School Registration ID: 25307963
    If you need help call 02 8901 0398

2. Before you can start ordering
    Login to your secure portal, add Students, top up your account

3. Placing an order 
    To place an order, follow these steps:
    Select a student, enter or select the date, click on Start Order button, select from menu options
    Collect your order at lunchtime from the priority lunch order pick up.

Skills for Learning is a subject offered only at Year 7, aimed at helping our students settle into secondary school. It is a unique subject that has a weekly or fortnightly focus on different areas of student development including the introduction and evolution of growth mindsets, virtual tours through our learning platform Siena Central and recently an emphasis on the appropriate online behaviour expected by Siena students.  

At Siena College we understand that making social connections is a part of growing up. Research by the Office of the eSafety Commissioner shows that young people see connecting to others as the most important benefit of using social media. It takes time to practice and develop the skill of connecting with others, both online and offline. 

In Skills for Learning we have discussed building our social and emotional skills to help us stay safe online. These include responding respectfully, taking responsibility for our individual presence online and taking action by reporting negativity to the relevant Head of Student Wellbeing. 

Parents are reminded that helpful information regarding adolescents and eSafety can be found at the Office of the eSafety Commissioners website:
https://esafety.gov.au/esafety-information

Further information is also available on School TV

Siena College does not allow students to be on their phones whilst they are on campus. Phones must be kept in student lockers at all times throughout the school day and will be confiscated if they are viewed by staff at an inappropriate time, including at recess or lunchtime. 

We thank all parents for their patience as we completed the convent building works.  From Monday, 4 March the driveway will be reopened for parent access.  As always, please ensure your are not parked in the designated bus bays.

It has been a busy start to the year for Siena Careers.  With several rounds of VTAC offers now rolling out over February, last year’s Year 12s have decisions to make about tertiary courses that require careful consideration and discussion.  We wish the Class of 2018 every success in the next step of their career journey and look forward to hearing their stories at a future Siena Careers Showcase.

I have been meeting with the current Year 12s to chat about what their career goals are and how we can best support them and provide them with the tools and resources required to make a good choice later in the year.

Parents are welcome to make an appointment with their daughter to discuss tertiary options and career pathways.  The best way to organise this is via the Siena Careers website www.sienacareers.com.au -appointment bookings are listed under the 'For Students' tab.

The latest edition of Siena Career News features information on the National Youth Science Forum.  This is a fabulous experience for current Year 11s to apply for.  The NYSF is a twelve day residential program in Canberra where students have the opportunity to experience a tertiary institution, speak to academics and university students and participate in a variety of STEAM workshops with students from schools around Australia.

Also in this week’s Siena Career News, GAP year applications with the Australian Defence Force are now open for current Year 12 students.  Experience military training and lifestyle, gain new skills and get paid!  There are a variety of jobs available.

Monash University was the most popular tertiary destination for our Class of 2018.  The 'Inside Monash' course information sessions commence shortly, dates are listed in Siena Career News.

We would like to extend a warm welcome to Julian Dods who recently joined The Arts and Technology faculty as  the AFL Trainee Technician

Please click here for CSEF application form 

Financial Assistance Application (391 KB)   
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2019 College Theme: Called By Name

Our College theme has at its heart this reading from the Book of Isaiah:

But now, says the Lord – he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel:
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are mine”.  (Isaiah 43:1)

Every member of our Siena College Community is known and loved by God, when we are called, God is saying 'I am listening to you and you alone – turn towards me and tell me your story'. 

Commencement Eucharist

On the evening of Tuesday 12 February, Year 7 students, 2019 student leaders, staff and parents gathered at St Dominic’s Church to ask God’s blessing on the year ahead.  In a real spirit of joy and community we welcomed our enthusiastic Year 7s and commissioned our Year 9-12 Siena College leaders. Heartfelt thanks to the choir members, musicians, readers, procession people, Eucharistic Ministers and all those who shaped or led an element of the Eucharist.  We are also grateful to our College Chaplain Fr Kevin Toomey OP for generously joining us to preside at our celebration.

Marking the National Apology

To mark the eleventh anniversary of the National Apology to the Stolen Generations our College took part in a communal House Group Prayer. Led by FIRE Carriers Hayley Di Stefano and Niamh Hickey alongside Veritas Leader - Social Justice, Sabrina Pittorino we recalled the significance of the day and prayed for harmony and reconciliation in our land.  With alarming statistics released recently indicating a rise in racism among Australians, it was a salutary reminder of the part each one of us can play in working toward a more just and hope filled future for all.

Welcome back to the 2019 academic year and a warm welcome to all of our new students and families. I am pleased to introduce the Senior Learning Leaders who are responsible for leading learning in our College in 2019:

Marissa Joyce  Head of English
Laine Rice  Head of Health and Physical Education
Assimina Semertjis  Head of Science
Claire Al-Noah  Head of the Arts and Technology
Paul Failla  Head of Mathematics
Jemimah Walsh  Head of Humanities
Michael Petrie  Head of Senior Pathways
Belinda Duncan  Head of Religious Education
Dean Fleischer  Head of Languages
Ansalie Hanrahan Head of Learning Enhancement

As part of the Heads of Learning team, we also have: 

Donna Laughlin  Director of Learning and Innovation
Andrea Carter  Leader of Pedagogy
Tina Di Camillo Leader of Pedagogy

You are welcome to contact any of the Heads of Learning (mentioned above) but as always, your first point of contact for curriculum related matters should be the subject teacher. It is essential that we continue to develop open and transparent communication and if possible, contact your daughter’s subject teacher earlier rather than later, if you perceive there to be a concern. 

Siena Central

All new parents and guardians will have received their login name and password for Siena Central. If a parent or guardian needs further assistance to log on to Siena Central via the website, please contact ithelp@siena.vic.edu.au. Please engage with your daughter about her learning and in particular, regularly access your daughter’s class pages to gain an indication of the learning that is taking place.

Year 12 Learning Conversations

Year 12 students require an ATAR (Australian Tertiary Admission Rank) for entry into many undergraduate entry university programs in Australia. This year we will again run the Year 12 Learning Conversations. This program provides an opportunity for the student to share a learning conversation with a senior member of staff about their academic goals, strategies that may assist in their learning and finally to develop a 2019 Action Plan with a focus on improvement. Year 12 students will also estimate an ATAR based on their Year 11 Semester 2 Examination results. The Year 12 students will receive the relevant documents and an ATAR calculator program so that they can spend some time reflecting on their Year 11 achievements and prepare for their learning conversation. The focus is not so much on the estimated ATAR that they calculate but the way in which they can maximise their learning opportunities in 2019.

Parent Teacher Conferences

The Year 7 to 12 Parent Teacher Conferences will be held on Thursday, 21 March and Thursday, 28 March between 4.00pm and 7.30pm in the Latingata Morrom Gymnasium. The Parent Teacher Conferences are an important opportunity to develop a working and supportive relationship between subject teachers, parents and students. It is essential that the student attends the Parent Teacher Conferences so that they are able to share their learning experience and participate in the conversation about their subject expectations. Parents and guardians will be able to download a copy of their daughter’s Interim report prior to the session and further information will be provided in a later newsletter.

Antonella Rosati

I am delighted to have joined the Siena community this year as Deputy Principal Wellbeing and to be leading such a wonderful team.  I am committed to wellbeing as it is integral to learning and to all activities that students participate in.  Student voice is key to wellbeing as it gives young people a sense of agency and ownership and I am looking forward to spending time with groups of students and hearing their views about what is going on in the College and in the wider community.

My educational philosophy is to create a Christ centred community of learners, modelled on excellence, who are inquisitive, brave and provided with opportunities to achieve success in an environment that is inclusive and supportive, regardless of background, gender or race.  

My experience in education spans over thirty years and I have built on my practical experience with further study, currently completing a second Master’s Degree, this time in Theology.  I am eager to be immersed in the Dominican charism as the Four Pillars of prayer, study, community and service drive all of our endeavours at Siena College.

Minna Denholm

My name is Minna Denholm and I have worked at Siena College for seven years. This will be my sixth year working directly in Wellbeing. I started as a Cassia House Assistant, moved to Transition Coordinator and this year I am thrilled to be Leader of Wellbeing Programs. I work directly with the Deputy Principal Wellbeing, Heads of Student Wellbeing, House Group teachers and students to implement the weekly pastoral program, orientation and transition days for new students.  This year I will liaise with Catholic Education Melbourne and Siena College staff in an exciting opportunity for Siena College to showcase its Wellbeing programs to other Catholic schools in the Eastern region. I am also undertaking further study having commenced a Master of Student Wellbeing at the Australian Catholic University, Melbourne.

Georgina Plasto

My name is Georgina Plasto and I am the Head of Student Wellbeing for Cassia House. I have been teaching at Siena College for eleven years in the Drama and English departments and was the Head of Learning in the Performing Arts for five years. It has always been my ambition to work as part of the Wellbeing Team and so when an opportunity arose for a Head of Student Wellbeing, I was extremely motivated to join a dynamic team to develop wellbeing programs and practices that best support our students. I am passionate about the wellbeing of our students and believe that a student’s education should be seen holistically. I feel strongly that the wellbeing practices and the relationships that we create with our students are paramount in their development in all aspects of life as it wfoundation for improved overall wellbeing, connectedness to school community and will enhance a student’s learning behaviours and motivation to achieve their best. We want our school to be a place where our students thrive, explore and make meaningful connections, a place where they are heard and understood, connected and encouraged. I look forward to working with the students and families of Cassia House.

Natalie Kinsella

I am incredibly fortunate to be working as the Head of Student Wellbeing for Dianella House at Siena College this year. As a new staff member to the College, I look forward to forming positive relationships with the students and their families as they continue on the exciting journey of secondary school. I am extremely passionate about student wellbeing and ensuring that the years students spend at school are full of goal setting and achievement, personal change, laughter and opportunity. I aim to provide support and guidance to all students so that they may become creative, confident and compassionate individuals and lifelong learners. 

As a Health and PE teacher, I am also very passionate about all things sport, working in teams, communication and building confidence. I love netball and barrack for the mighty Tigers in the AFL. I look forward to working with you. 

Maree Cody

I came to Siena College ten years ago in Term 4 as a Chemistry Teacher and a House Coordinator. During my time at the College I have taught Year 9 Religious Education, Years 11 and 12 Chemistry, Years 9 and 10 Science, Year 7 and 9 Mathematics and Years 7, 9, 10 and 11 Drama. Having taught VCE Theatre Studies at my previous school for many years, I was very keen to initiate a College Play for senior students as a cocurricular activity. This has proven to be very successful with many students strengthening friendships through their participation, whilst I have been able to nurture my passion for directing. It was my interest in theatre that led me to teaching – that was what I wanted to teach initially. A Chemistry method, due to many years as a pharmacist, ensured that I have always taught that subject. Working with our students on their wellbeing has been the unforeseen bonus. Now it would be virtually impossible to say what I love best: the sciences, mathematics, theatre and drama or very close and important work with the students. Thank goodness I don’t have to choose!

Jill Foley

I have built my career through a variety of roles and industries, most notably through Education and the European Entertainment Industry of the Arts, Television, Radio and Music Festivals.  This is my third year at Siena College.  In Waratah House we encourage and value creativity, flexibility and innovation and are always open to new and exciting opportunities. I have worn many hats.  My career history is diverse and creative both inside and outside of the traditional classroom structure.  I am a passionate and resourceful educator understanding what it means to be a transformational leader and as a creative thinker I enjoy working with others to create opportunities for contemporary learning.  I am so invested in the wellbeing of the young people I teach, shaping the whole person and encouraging them to develop positive, healthy relationships and strive for academic excellence.

I believe the role of the educator is to inspire young people so that they are able to construct a well formed world view, influenced by society's values and an understanding of how they can make a difference beyond the walls of Siena.  I identify with the values of integrity, empathy, fairness, equality and support. I translate this strength of vision consistently with students in my care. We also make sure that in Waratah we always have fun! Looking forward to another fabulous year in 2019.

Jennifer Lear

I have been a College Counsellor at Siena College since the start of 2015. I love being part of the Siena College community and part of the Wellbeing Team. I work from Monday – Thursday and I will be taking maternity leave shortly to have twin boys. I also have a young daughter, so I like to keep busy.  I moved to Australia at the end of 2014 from England, where I worked as a social worker prior to undertaking my doctorate in Clinical Psychology and working for the NHS. I will be returning from maternity leave at the start of Term 4 and look forward to continuing to work with the students and families here at Siena.

 Millie Holmes

My name is Millie and I am one of the counsellors. This is my third year at Siena College and prior to this, I held a variety of roles in child and adolescent outpatient and inpatient settings in the public and private mental health sectors. I have facilitated consults and educational workshops for young people, staff and parents on a range of psychological topics. Collectively these experiences have driven my interest and passion for working with young people and their families and I love the challenges and complexities of working here at Siena. I hope to continue supporting our students so that they can achieve their personal best and be self aware, enquiring, resourceful, individuals as student wellbeing is the platform for success in any school. I look forward to another year of working alongside staff, parents, and external agencies to help each of our students feel individually cared for, encouraged and valued. 

Lisa Ellis

My name is Lisa Ellis.  I am one of the new counselling staff members at Siena College.  I am working Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays.  I have previously worked with adolescents in Private Practice and within the Vocational Education system (TAFE).  I am looking forward to working at Siena, meeting the students and supporting them on their journey.  I have three young children who keep me busy when I’m not at work and who constantly remind me of the importance of laughter and being in the present moment.   When I have spare time, I love yoga, swimming, reading and spending time with family and friends.

Gemma Morley

My name is Gemma Morley and I am one of the new College Counsellors at Siena College for 2019. I have previously been working in private practice and at another local secondary school for the last five years. I am passionate about supporting the mental health of adolescents and I enjoy being able to work within a school setting. When I am not at work, I am busy being a mum to my two young children. I will be at Siena College on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays this year and I look forward to meeting many of the students and families throughout the year. 

SchoolTV at Siena College

Today's parents face a multitude of modern day challenges in raising happy, well and resilient young people. Whilst there is a great deal of information available, this can often be confusing and overwhelming for parents looking for guidance.  SchoolTVis an online resource designed to empower you as parents with credible and sound information with realistic, practical and ongoing support strategies.  An excellent feature of SchoolTV is that it is available when you need to access it, in your own time.  Evidence based recommendations and strategies are provided by specialists who practice in the field.  

As explained in my email to parents, this month features excellent advice on School Transitions for Year 7 students and Surviving Year 12 for our senior students.

The final year of secondary school is a year of hard work and a huge commitment for students. With so much going on it can be hard to find the balance between study and life. It is a time when personalities start to emerge, there are more complex interpersonal relationships and there is the pressure to perform academically. With all of this going on, it’s not surprising that some students have an emotional response and it is therefore extremely important for parents to know how to support their children during this time.

Some young people will need more support than others. Keeping the communication lines open with your child, their teachers, mentors and other parents will be crucial. Being aware of your child’s mental and physical wellbeing can play a vital role in their success.

Siena College Mobile Phone Policy

In June 2018, the NSW Minister for Education, commissioned an independent review into the non-educational use of mobile devices in NSW schools.  The review was led by Dr Michael Carr-Gregg, and supported by other independent experts as well as many students, parents and guardians, teachers and principals who were consulted in the process. As a result, the use of mobile devices during school hours will now be restricted in NSW public primary schools.

The Siena College Guidelines regarding the use of mobile phones were shared with parents and students in earlier this month. We all know that technology does have a role to play in the classroom, but this needs to be facilitated. Personal smartphones, on the other hand, are proving to be a distraction for students in terms of their access to social media sites, as well as potentially being a source of bullying activities.

In this Special Report, parents and guardians will learn about the importance of helping their daughter find a balance to get the good parts out of technology. 

Our Siena College Learning Framework provides an excellent foundation for strong learning opportunities for our students. In establishing classes, teachers have examined the quadrants of the Learning Framework with their students and in conjunction with the Classroom Learning Indicators, determined the classroom expectations. These expectations are on the Siena Central class page and provide an excellent opportunity for students and parents to revisit as required. 

As part of providing a safe and collaborative learning environment, students are paired with a ‘Positive Learning Partner’ (PLP). This ensures all students engage in an environment that offers support and trust and develop skills of collaboration and respect for others.

Home Learning at Siena College

Study is an integral aspect of the Dominican faith tradition. Home learning enables students to cement their classroom learning and identify areas for further growth. Home learning also provides an opportunity for students to play an active role in improving their understanding and for parents to work in partnership with their daughters and teachers to positively influence their daughter’s education.

Amount of Home Learning / Study per Subject

Given the varying nature of subjects, home learning requirements will vary.  Part of the learning process for students involves discernment and time management as they plan home learning.  Subject teachers consider the suggested total guidelines and their professional judgement in determining the home learning for their individual subject.  The following is a guide per year level regarding the amount of time that students should spend on home learning:

Year 7:  60-90 minutes per day
Year 8:  60-90 minutes per day
Year 9:  90 minutes per day
Year 10: 90-120 minutes per day
Year 11: 2-3 hours per day
Year 12: 3-4 hours per day

Student Responsibilities

In becoming independent learners, students are encouraged to:

• Use Siena Central to access class learning and to view home learning tasks daily
• Submit work that reflects their best effort and in which they have pride
• Complete and submit all work and assessment or apply for a ‘Application for Change of Submission Date’ form (assignments and tests only) by the due date 
• Establish a regular home learning routine which includes: 

- Accessing Siena Central to confirm Home Learning requirements
- Home Learning/study planner
- Due date calendar
- Regular study/revision of their class work to consolidate learning
- Dedicated learning space free of distraction
- Catching up on missed class work if absent

• Seek assistance from their subject teacher to clarify understanding of learning and task
• Communicate with the subject teacher prior to task due date where a lack of understanding prevents completion of task

Parent Responsibilities

Parents, as the primary educators of their children, are encouraged to:

• Provide an environment conducive to effective home study
• Help their daughter balance the amount of time spent completing home learning with engagement in leisure or recreational activities
• Assist their daughter in developing a home learning/study timetable
• Encourage their daughter to set aside a regular daily session to study/revise and complete home learning and assessment tasks by the due date
• Observe and acknowledge their daughter’s success by asking how their home and class work is progressing
• Check Siena Central subject class pages regularly to monitor that home learning is being completed
• Encourage their daughter to exercise thoroughness and care in the completion of work
• Encourage their daughter to seek assistance from the teacher where lack of understanding exists
• Communicate with class teacher or Head of Student Wellbeing where appropriate
• Assist their daughter in determining responsible use of technology during Home Learning

 A successful learning space should:

• Have a suitable desk and chair
• Be free of noise and distractions (such as the TV, iPhones, social media, other people, etc.)
• Be well organised, allowing easy access to resources and stationery
• Display a 2019 calendar with important dates such as due dates, assignments, key school events, etc. 
• Be well lit and ventilated

The ‘Application for Change of Assessment Date’ form for tests or assignments is available on Siena Central in both the Student Zone and Parent Portal. If required, this must be submitted to the teacher prior to the due date of the task.

Year 7 Home Learning

The Year 7 Home Learning Guidelines assist our Year 7 Students in transitioning and settling into secondary school. Home Learning will commence for Year 7 students on Monday, 25 February 2019. 

To assist Year 7 Students with assessment requirements, a Year 7 Academic Calendar will be compiled and published. This will be made accessible to all students and parents via email and Siena Central. The Academic Calendar will provide an outline of the due week for Unit Assessment and whether the task is to be completed in class or at home. This will be made available to students and parents in the upcoming weeks.

Siena Central class pages and online feedback

Parents are reminded that they have access to their daughter’s subject class pages. This enables direct access to daily classroom learning and home learning tasks. Accessing the class pages provides a useful foundation for the relationship between student, parent and teacher, ensuring all play an important role in advancing their daughter’s learning.

Siena Central also provides the opportunity for students and their parents to receive ongoing feedback regarding the students’ areas of achievement and improvement for each assessment task. Online feedback will be made available to students and parents in a timely manner and can be accessed in the following ways:  

• For students, access the Grades tab on the student dashboard, then select the subject.
• Parents will receive an email notification when their daughter’s work is marked. To access the result and comments, log on to Siena Central through the College website portal. Select daughter’s name in the side menu and select 'Grades' from the options. The percentage result and a teacher comment are available for assessed tasks.

The Siena Central Parent User Guide outlines how to access the above options and other aspects of Siena Central. It is available on the Parent Portal under ‘Useful information’.

Throughout Term 1, parents will be asked to provide feedback on their use of Siena Central. We appreciate your support in collecting this information, to ensure we are meeting your needs and continuing to develop our partnership with you to assist your daughter in her learning.

If you have any questions or difficulties accessing the Siena Central Parent Portal or the online feedback, please contact IT help at the College on 9835 0200 or ithelp@siena.vic.edu.au

We wish all students well in their learning endeavours in 2019.

Donna Laughlin
Director of Learning and Innovation

It has been a busy start to Term 1 Sport with Indoor Cricket, Softball, Tennis, Swimming and Diving all commencing training in Week 1. Our Senior Girls had their first round of competition on Monday with the Softball team winning 14-9 against Firbank and our Indoor Cricket teams both winning against MLC by over 80 runs.

I would like to congratulate Ashling O’Farrell who has been selected in the Victorian Under 15 Girls’ cricket team which will play in the National Championships in Canberra from Tuesday 19 to Wednesday 27 February. We wish her luck and look forward to hearing of her experience.

Term 2 sign ups for GSV sport are now open. Students have received an email outlining which sports are available and explaining the application process. Girls have a week to sign up via an online form and entries close on Wednesday, 20 February.

We now have a Social Run Club on Wednesday mornings. We encourage all girls to join us for a short run/walk around the local area. We meet at 7.30am outside the gym with Nick Baggott, Siena College’s Cross Country coach and aim to be back at school by 8.10am.

Please continue to check in with your daughter regarding GSV sport. We rely on the girls passing information to their parents and emphasise this in any emails sent to them. You can also access our sport page on Siena Central for the latest information. I thank you for your patience and understanding over the last couple of weeks whilst we organised our Term 1 sport program.

Please note there are several girls who still require permission to participate in Term 1 GSV sports. You will receive an email from Care Monkey reminding you to give permission. We are unable to take your daughter off the school campus without parental consent, so please ensure you access your account as soon as possible.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email our sport team at sport@siena.vic.edu.au and they will be pleased to assist.

James Houghton 

The commencement of the 2019 school year has seen the renaming of our Resource Centre to the Albertus Magnus Learning Centre.  The significance of the name change reflects a shift in thinking about the role this physical space plays for the Siena learning community.  Our vision for the Learning Centre is exciting and dynamic.  The Learning Centre will become a hub to foster the development and support of student voice, the promotion of our Dominican Mission and Identity, a place where educators collaborate to develop programs with the Victorian Curriculum General Capabilities (Ethical, Intercultural, Critical and Creative Thinking, Personal and Social) embedded into the learning experience.  The Learning Centre will support STEAM classes and also be a venue to host guest speakers from both within and outside the College. The Library will continue to function out of the Learning Centre, offering all the resources, lunch time activities and services it always has.  We look forward to reporting on the events and activities taking place in the Learning Centre throughout the year.  

The future is, most of all, in the hands of those people who recognise the other as a 'you' and themselves as part of an 'us.' We all need each other.                                                           Pope Francis 2017 TED Talk “Why the only future worth building includes everyone”.

Service to the Community Log Books will be distributed to all students in House Groups during Week 3.  The Service to the Community Program at Siena aims to assist our students to develop empathy and understanding of the lives of others, and to foster a willingness within each student to make a difference in our world.  Students are encouraged to pursue opportunities for service which would develop their understanding of poverty and disadvantage.  

Service opportunities will be advertised from time to time on the 'Service to the Community' tile on Siena Central.  Students are encouraged to seek opportunities for Service within their own community networks and local organisations and are reminded that their Service should be unpaid, practical and of assistance to others.  House Group teachers will periodically check on the progress of Service to the Community Log Books of their students and will report on these in House Group reports each Semester.  Parents are asked to support the College with this important facet of their daughter’s education.     

In December last year, during our summer break, twelve Siena College students attended the ACTURA CASE Space School in the USA, for a unique STEM based experience at NASA. Madeleine Quin (Year 9), Rebecca Gilmartin (Year 10), Grace Kim (Year 10), Amy Linden (Year 10), and Jasmine Skutela (Year 10) attended the Junior Program which took place in Houston, Texas and Huntsville, Alabama.  Lily Dickenson (Year 11), Alexandra Musco (Year 11), Ashley Pietrobon (Year 11), Kaytlin Spencer Smith (Year 11), Zara Turner (Year 11), Taylor Wilkinson (Year 11) and Jade Devlin (Year 12) attended the Senior Program in Houston, Texas.

The following reflections written by our students are a brief insight into this valuable STEM learning experience.

Student reflections

From 9-20 December 2018, twelve Siena College students were privileged to participate in ACTURA’s space school in Houston, Texas. After a journey of almost twenty four hours, we arrived in Houston. On our first day, we went to Ad Astra, a company creating a new form of engine, a plasma propulsion engine. This engine super heats gas into plasma, the fourth state of matter. This plasma provides constant thrust and significantly decreases travel time. In fact, with this engine, a trip to the moon would only take two hours as opposed to fifty seven hours! Following this experience and various shopping expeditions, we finally attended Space University - a five day program at NASA Johnson Space Centre. During this program we made a Mars base, a Mars rover and created a heat shield to protect our ‘eggs’-tronaut! We saw one of the three remaining Saturn V rockets at Rocket Park which was truly amazing. That rocket was huge! Whilst at NASA, we got to see some astronauts in training prepare for an eight hour work day at the neutral bouyancy lab known as the Sonny Carter Training Facility. Here, two astronauts are submerged in a huge pool twelve metres deep to work with a mock up of the International Space Station under water as this simulates weightlessness.  We were so fortunate to meet many astronauts who have worked with the space shuttle program including Nicole Stott.  All in all, this experience is a once in a lifetime adventure and I’m so grateful to have had the opportunity. I have definitely been inspired by everyone I met during this trip, especially Nicole Stott, to chase my dreams of becoming an astronaut. 
Jade Devlin Year 12 (SCB)

Over the summer holidays I participated in the trip to NASA. Deciding to join this adventure was one of the greatest decisions of my life. We worked off a jam-packed schedule, waking up at 5.00am most mornings so we could all be out and on the road as early as possible.  Some of the most amazing activities we completed were working in a simulated mission control working as a team to solve problems. For example, at one point I was working for life support and suddenly we had a breach in the oxygen tanks and only four minutes of air left. We had to work as a team and solve the problem so that our crew could land safely. My favourite part of the trip would have to be all the amazing girls I met, and the lifelong friends I have made.  We were all very sad to say goodbye, but we are all still keeping close contact. This was the trip of a lifetime and if anyone gets the opportunity to go on this trip I highly recommend it as you will never regret signing up.
Lily Dickenson Year 11 (SKD)

I had so much fun whilst on Space Camp and learnt a lot about science and the world of space. I really enjoyed trying different machines and learning about the way astronauts prepare for travelling into space. The best part was attending lectures from inspiring people who wanted to help us grow. The presenters were so admirable and I really enjoyed the exposure to a new environment. It was fun trying something new and it wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be. I would highly recommend participating in this experience if you are questioning whether you should work in this field, or even if you’re curious about space. It teaches you a lot about the world of technology. I met a lot of people and made many new friends. I learnt a lot about myself and I’m so thankful that I was able to take part in this program.
Amy Linden Year 10 (SDB)

The Actura Case Space School trip was the most incredible experience I have ever completed in my life. The exclusive access we received included speeches and meeting several inspiring astronauts encouraging us to one day have a career in the space or science field. Throughout the five days at NASA we worked in teams and made rockets which we launched, created a Mars habitation, programmed and built a rover and tested thermal and cryogenics on our marshmallow astronaut. The recreational activities were also incredible, such as the museum, shopping, NBA and scuba diving.  This trip also created a bond between the members of the B21 group, exploring an unfamiliar place for the first all together, bonding over the same passions we have.  To this day I still miss those 6.00am wake up calls and being on the bus to NASA.  The trip reinforced my real passions for Space Science and I  encourage everyone who loves Space or Science to go on this trip where you learn nothing is impossible.
Alexandra Musco Year 11 (SDB)

The remarkable trip to Houston, Texas allowed me to learn more about the variety of careers available in the space programs. We were given this amazing opportunity to be exposed to another culture leaving me with many unforgettable memories. Attending an American basketball game, the George Observatory and N.A.S.A are only a few of the sensational places we visited while in Houston. This trip was incredible and I would recommend it to anyone interested in pursuing a career in the space industry or just wanting to explore their future career options.
Zara Turner Year 11 (SKA)

During the Space School camp I learnt so many valuable skills such as how to remain focused under pressure in the mission control simulator and how to work with a team.  We learnt how to work with budgets at Space University and were encouraged to never doubt yourself, something my team experienced after we constructed a glove and everyone laughed at its appearance.  In fact we did win, despite its odd visual credentials!  My favourite activity at Space University was definitely cryo and thermo activity. It was fun to experiment with which  materials work best to keep the marshmallow and egg safe. I really liked the mission simulator because it pushed us out of our comfort zones trying to deal with almost losing air and then almost crashing the rocket.  The activities are not just normal school science tasks, you see and experience situations real astronauts encounter for training and on a mission. And if that wasn't enough, you also get to experience swesome events like the NBA.  Overall it was a great trip with many great experiences that I will never forget.
Ashley Pietrobon Year 11 (SDC)

The ‘Year 7 Poetry Competition’ is now open to all Year 7 students. Submissions may be either classwork or a piece that students have worked on at at home.
Winning entries will be invited to take part in a workshop with Melbourne based performance poet, Joel McKerrow when he visits Siena in Week 5. Joel visited the College last year and the students who took part in his workshop really enjoyed working with him as he encouraged them to write from the heart.

Students can submit their poems on the Year 7 English Course Page on Siena Central. Entries close on Wednesday 27 February, 2019.  Year 7 students should speak to their English teacher if they have any questions.

The Convent refurbishment is almost complete and we are thrilled to see the results as we look forward to reopening the Convent and resuming carpark access by 1 March.  Please take the time to click through the gallery to see some images from the beautifully restored interior of the boardroom, Principal's office and meeting rooms.

We extend a warm welcome to the following staff who joined Siena College at the commencement of the school year:

 We would also like to welcome back to the College the following staff who have returned from leave

• Sue Lee (Health and Physicak Education teacher) 
• Michelle Theron (Arts and Technology teacher) 
• Claire Moody (Head of Student Formation) 

And finally congratulate these staff who have commenced the year in new roles:

• Donna Laughlin (Director of Learning and Innovation) 
• Ansalie Hanrahan (Head of Learning Enhancement) 
• Tina Di Camillo (Leader of Pedagogy)
• Bronwyn Illott (Head of Justice Education)
• Minna Denholm (Leader of Wellbeing Programs)
• Belinda Duncan (Head of Religious Education)

On 31 January 2019, members of the SRC across Years 9 to 12 attended a Leadership Forum. This day emphasised our duties as role models at school, and the values of Siena that we must uphold and use to lead by example. The morning started off with an introduction and warm welcome from our Principal, Mrs Robson-Garth, who spoke about our theme for 2019, Called By Name, and spoke of some exciting upcoming events for the year. We were thrilled to hear that Sister Sheila will be on staff for the next 6 months, as she spoke of the current societal adversities in our world and explained the stories of ordinary people who were making a difference. These empowering people started alone and without money and resources, and slowly built an empire that started to change our world for the better. After this, various leadership workshops commenced - these were run by Ms Moody, Ms Levett, Jade and myself. These workshops allowed the different year levels to work cohesively together and share various ideas about what it means to be a leader, as well as brainstorm and delve into more depth about the different qualities a leader possesses. We talked collectively about new initiatives we wanted to see explored at Siena, as well as new ways we can project the student voice. This year the SRC wants to encourage participation across all year levels, and emphasise that leadership is more than those who wear a badge. Following this, the different groups broke off and started planning for the year. The house leaders planned for Fiesta specifically with their House coordinators, and the College Captains and Public Relations Captain planned with Ms Moody some different fundraisers and ways to raise awareness of Project Compassion, which starts on Ash Wednesday. To conclude the day, we held a group reflection. The day was pivotal to students’ development as leaders, and reminded all of our duty to uphold not just throughout the year, but for the entirety of our schooling at Siena. 

Charlotte Lack
College Captain 

 
(L-R) Charlotte Lack and Jade Devlin
College Captains

Registrations are now open for the Siena College Fun Run! Book online today!

Now Accepting Applicants for 2020 Rotary Youth Exchange!

Are you a Year 9, 10 or 11 Student?  You may qualify as a Rotary Youth Exchange Student and have the opportunity to live and study in Germany, France Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Taiwan, Brazil, Hungary, Norway, Spain, Poland, or Switzerland.

The Rotary Youth Exchange Program is a unique opportunity for students to experience the culture of a new country, to learn a new language and develop new friendships. 

Applications are now being accepted and close on Sunday, 7 April 2019.  Students must be under the age of 17 years and 6 months, as at 1 January in the year of departure.

Further information is available from -
www.rotaryyouthexchangedistrict9800.com.au

Host Families Invited Now!

Rotary Youth Exchange invites kind and caring Host Families within the community to assist local Rotary Clubs offer an outstanding exchange program to young people from all over the World.  A Host Family is a vital part of this cultural and educational exchange and typically hosts a student on a voluntary basis for a period of between 10 to 16 weeks. In doing so, a Host family officially becomes a Friend of Rotary International. The Host Family plays an integral role in offering the student the experience of a new culture and language, whilst at the same time learning itself about a different culture from a young leader. It is a direct window to the world for all members of a Host family.

 You not only share a young person’s hopes and dreams, but more importantly, you make those dreams possible. Hosting is the beginning of a lifelong friendship and connection with a student and family overseas. Whilst it can be challenging to help a young person transition to a new culture and ease into the surroundings, it is always fun and the rewards are immeasurable.

 Host Families in the Rotary Youth Exchange program come in many shapes and sizes! Young children, older children, and no children at all, extended families and older generations – all have been successful in hosting exchange students.

Please consider this amazing and rewarding opportunity now. Enquiries are most welcome.

 Further information is available at www.rotaryyouthexchangedistrict9800.com.au

Gabrielle Morgan
Chair: District 9800 Youth Exchange
0419 398 507

Please click here for CSEF application form

Financial Assistance Application (391 KB)   
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Examinations

Over the past few weeks, our Year 9 to Year 11 students have been sitting their exams, with the last exam being written by our Year 9s on 5 December.  Across all year levels, our teaching staff are very busy marking examination papers and finalising assessment tasks for the Semester 2 reports. Year 9 and 10 examination results will be published on 11 December on Siena Central. Year 11 examination results were published on 29 November. Semester 2 reports will be available on the parent portal on Friday, 14 December.

Year 11 and 12 Headstart Program

After a week of Headstart, Year 11 students will enjoy their last school day for the year on 30 November.  Year 10 students will participate in a three day Headstart Program and will finish school on Wednesday, 5 December. Our Year 9s complete their last exam on 5 December and with Years 7 to 8 will attend their end of year House Group, final assembly and Liturgy on 6 December.

Awards Evening

The annual Academic Awards Evening will be held at the Hawthorn Town Hall on Wednesday, 12 December commencing at 7.00pm. Parents and guardians of students who will receive an award will receive a personal invitation and details of the evening. Invitations to Year 7 and 8 parents and guardians will be sent on Thursday, 6 December after results have been finalised.

Year 7 to 11 Academic Excellence Awards are presented to the top five percent of students in the cohort based on a mathematical calculation of their grades. Year 12 Academic Excellence awards are determined by scores in School Assessed Course Work per subject. 

Academic Endeavour Awards recognise a student who has worked solidly with a spirit of enthusiasm and collaboration. She is both supportive and considerate of other students and shows persistence in her academic endeavours. Year 7 to 11 recipients are required to receive a suitable number of nominations across the year level per subject.  Academic Endeavour Awards are presented to one student in each Year 12 class.

It has been a busy and productive term and as the school year concludes, we wish all our families a wonderful break over the school holidays. Our prayers and best wishes go to our Year 12 students whose VCE results will be released on 14 December. 

The whole liturgical year forms us to be a people with the courage to wait until the Lord comes. Advent trains us in the patience not to begin celebrating too early, resisting the temptation to celebrate Christ’s birth before he comes… Christ is a gift and one respects the gift by waiting for the moment when it is given. 

The Latin word for ‘to wait’ – attendere – means to stretch oneself forward, we are attentive, opening ourselves to what will come.

During Advent, we are like people gathered around the bed, we await the birth. But God’s coming was not just the birth of a child, it was the coming of a word… though it needed thousands of years before there was a language in which God’s word could be spoken in the form of Jesus.

Fr Timothy Radcliffe OP 

I would like to thank and congratulate all our music students who have developed their musicianship and ensemble skills through participation in a huge variety of College events throughout an exciting and rewarding year.  They have represented the Siena music department with great pride in concerts, festivals, recital evenings, tours, workshops,the school musical, Masses and music camp. Thank you to all our music staff for all that they do to make music a major part of so many students' lives.  We wish you a joyful Christmas and a safe and relaxing holiday.

Summer Concert

We extend a warm welcome to families to join us for the Summer Concert on 5 December from 4.30pm to 6.30pm adjacent to the St Catherine Centre on the basketball courts. This concert will feature many of our ensembles performing concert pieces and Christmas carols. Bring along your picnic rugs and Christmas hats and join in the fun.  Student performers are reminded to remain at school after classes conclude.

Hire Instruments

As the year comes to a close we ask all students who will be purchasing their own instruments over the holidays to please return their hire instruments after the Summer Concert, so they can be cleaned and prepared for the new Year 7 cohort. 

Melbourne International Women’s Jazz Festival

The Siena College Stage Band has been invited to perform at the Melbourne International Women's Jazz festival as part of the students night on Tuesday, 4 December at the Jazz Lab in Brunswick. It is a great honour to be one of the three schools invited to perform and recognises the standard of our band. For more information and ticket bookings click here

Siena College Instrumental Music Examinations

Seventeen students from Years 7 to 10 participated in our Siena College music examinations. We would like to congratulations all students for their diligence in preparing for their exams. The results were outstanding and reflective of the practice and effort they put into their instruments.

We have had a busy Term 4 of GSV Sport with many Water Polo, Cricket and Basketball teams participating over the last six weeks.  Our Junior B and C teams have been particularly successful, making it to the finals after strong performances in their semi finals at MSAC.

Term 4 finals signify the conclusion GSV Sport at Siena College for 2018. Thank you to all the girls for their participation, it has been a great year for Siena once again and all are to be congratulated. 

Please note that our Celebration of Sport Awards Evening will be held at Camberwell Grammar School on Thursday, 6 December 2018 from 7.30pm to 9.00pm. Award recipients have been notified and their families have been invited. If you would like to attend, please contact me at jhoughton@siena.vic.edu.au as we would be more than happy to accommodate you.

We wish to recognise Georgia Byrne, Year 11, on her fantastic achievement of being selected to represent Victoria in Rugby Sevens. The tournament will be played in Brisbane next week and we wish Georgia the best of luck.

In the latest edition of Siena Career News you can read about a new tertiary course search website, which allows students to search and filter courses based on ATAR, study score and location.  Also, for students interested in Screen, Sound and Creative Media, there are a few events coming up, such as the SAE Information Night in December and the University of Melbourne Filmmaking school in the holidays.  JMC Academy are also holding an Open Day in January.

Students interested in a career in Sport may want to read about a program developed between the Carlton Football Club and LaTrobe University.  Please refer to Siena Career News for further details on this diploma pathway into the Bachelor of Sport Coaching and Development.

According to Socrates, ‘Philosophy begins in wonder’. Do you ever find yourself wondering about those big ethical or philosophical questions? For example, do all creatures have a mind or is everything we see real? Or maybe, how do we know the right action to take or is lying always wrong? Questions such as these have been the focus of debate amongst philosophers for thousands of years. 

Small groups of thoughtful Year 7 and Year 8 students accepted the challenge to consider some of life’s unanswered questions by attending a philosophy program delivered by the Learning Enhancement Department. Each fortnightly session gave students an opportunity to examine some of life’s biggest topics such as perception, beauty, discrimination, art and aesthetics, racism, ethics, truth, forgiveness and identity. They were asked to come with an open mind, to think and share their ideas and to listen without prejudice to the opinions of others. 

In each session, students were asked to respond to some form of stimulus based on the topic being considered. Each student demonstrated an ability to think creatively, to work as part of a team, to examine and consider multiple perspectives of a given topic. It was exciting to watch these young philosophers at work, engaging with ideas that challenged them to think and wonder about their world from new perspectives.

Student Reflections

‘Philosophy this year has taught me to be open and to speak my mind.’
Maliana Tapusoa

‘I loved Philosophy because it gave me the opportunity to challenge my ideas and to think deeply about certain topics.’
Pia Perini

‘I have been exposed to new ideas and thought about things such as beauty and art in ways I never would have before’
Guilia D’Angelo

‘I have loved spending a period each fortnight talking about interesting topics and interpreting them with friends’
Charlotte Ryan 

Participating Year 7 Students: Sophie Barnetson, Lauren Edwards, Charlotte Jennings, Evie Goodale, Sophie Birrell, Justina Flunt, Alyssa Leong, Angelina Rodos, Alessia Tevere, Aurora Neumann, Madeline Castoldi, Angelica Rizk, Yasmin Korfiatis, Ella Castoldi, Alessia Erzetic-Nadalin, Jessica Higgins, Mia Kelly, Kayla Huynh, Sienna Saunders, Amber Wadia, Mia Fenton, Sarah Baxter, Amali Hawkins, Ella Jennings, Bridget Quinn, Jasmine Tubb, Carly Walsh

Particpating Year 8 Students: Bridie Warren, Charlotte Dickson, Mikayla Rollnik, Abbey Harford, Mailiana Tapusoa, Daria Del Tito, Giulia D’Angelo, Amy Barnett, Bita Afshar, Trinity Ng, Gabriella Sakkos, Sarah White, Ella Graham, Pia Perini, Madeleine Quin, Aurelia Tjitji, Charlotte Ryan, Sienna Justus

Student Reflection

'As a part of the Year 9 curriculum, we completed a 'Healthy Food by Design' class which included growing vegetables such as silverbeet, coriander, parsley and spring onions. We worked to prepare the soil, plant the seeds and then cared for the plants as they grew.  Unfortunately, our garden bed was located in a rain shadow, meaning the garden bed lacked sunlight and needed a little bit more than was available.  However, it was still an absolute joy to watch our seedlings grow into plants over the course of the subject.

Although our journey was broken up by the Term 3 holidays, we were delighted to see that the garden bed was still in pristine condition when we returned to school in Term 4.  Overall, this project was inspiring and heartwarming as we were able to give back to both the community and the environment. Throughout the subject we gladly devoted a portion of our recesses and lunchtimes to water the garden bed. It was a rewarding experience and I am extremely thankful to have been a part of it.'

Audrey Hawkins 
Year 7

On Friday 16 November, we welcomed one hundred and forty eight Grade 6 students to our College to begin their transition into secondary school. 

The girls began the day with assembly and shortly after were allocated to their Houses. Everyone participated in a variety of 'getting to know you' activities with their Head of Student Wellbeing before breaking for recess. 

They were then placed in smaller groups, which rotated throughout the mid-morning session. This provided an opportunity for the girls to make connections with a variety of students from other primary schools. At Siena we understand the importance of relating and belonging. A great sense of belonging promotes positive student wellbeing and generates success in the academic classroom. As such, our Transition Day is structured around creating a strong sense of community. 

During lunch the girls were able to sign up for Girls Sport Victoria (GSV) in Term 1 and were introduced to some of the Siena sports faculty staff.  The day ended back in House areas where the girls reflected on their first experience of Siena College. 

Many thanks to all involved with the preparation and implementation of the Transition program. 

Minna Denholm
Transition Coordinator.  

Christmas has come early for Siena Archives.  Wendy Edwards (Class of 1967) recently sent us a number of uniform items including the long sought infamous yellow sports tunic.  We are so delighted and grateful.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all who have donated items this year. We have received photos, badges, pennants, a video, uniform items, reminiscences, a college spoon, magazines and books written by past students. We are very appreciative of the support we continue to receive from our Siena community.

Maria Ang and Maureen McAuley
College Archivists

Reminder that Secondhand Uniform Shop is open Saturday, 1 December.

Give a gift with impact this year. Pledge your support for First Nations families changing the future for the next generation of children in Central Australia and the Top End of the Northern Territory.

We are breaking the cycle.
We are changing the system.
We are Children’s Ground.

 Donate now and walk with us!

Mass of Remembrance

November is a significant month of remembering in both secular and church calendars.  Around 8 November, the Dominican family remember those who have died.  On this day members of the Siena community gathered for a Mass of Remembrance to honour those who had died, especially in the past year.  Candles were lit and loved ones named during the Gathering Rites and roses were presented to all assembled at the end of our liturgy prior to refreshments being enjoyed in the Conference Room. We are grateful to Sr Julianna Drobik OP, Cathy Carr and our celebrant, Fr Kevin Toomey OP for their organisation and support of this important Eucharist.

St Mary’s House of Welcome Outreach

St Mary’s House of Welcome opens the doors daily to over two hundred people living in ongoing poverty. Each year our College undertakes a Christmas Hamper Appeal to benefit this community– these are compiled in House Groups and staff groups across Siena. Please take the time to discuss your daughter’s contribution with her and visit              https://www.smhow.org.au/ to find out more about this important justice initiative.

Australian Teens and Religion

In the 2016 Census people declaring that they have ‘no religion’ formed the largest response category in each age group until 65+, whilst migration continues to reshape Australia’s religious profile in unexpected ways. In this context a major study of Australian teenagers discovers the textures of their spiritualities. While most declare that they have ‘no religion’ that is in fact far from the whole story. Just released data provides the facts to help understand Generation Z who are the largest generation and the leading edge of the future. Read more here. 

Years 9 - 11 Examinations 

Our Year 11 students have commenced their examination period and we wish them all the very best. The Year 10s and Year 9s will commence exams on Friday, 23 November and Wednesday, 28 November respectively.

The examination timetable and the College expectations in relation to examinations have been emailed to all Year 9 to 11 students, parents and guardians. The exam timetables are also available on the Siena Central Portal for both parents and students. Subject teachers have published a revision package for each year level on Siena Central. Year 11 examination papers will be returned through House Group on Friday, 30 November and results will be available on Siena Central on Thursday, 29 November at 3:30pm. Year 9 and 10 examination papers will only be available in 2019, due to time constraints. However, Year 9 and 10 examination results will be published on Siena Central on Tuesday, 11 December at 3:00pm.

2019 HeadStart Program

We will once again run a Headstart program for our Year 11 and Year 10 students.

On Monday, 26 November, the current Year 11 students will undertake a five day Year 12 Headstart program concluding on Friday, 30 November. The current Year 10s will undertake a three day program commencing on Monday, 3 December and concluding on Wednesday, 5 December.

Each Year 12 subject will be allocated five periods and each Year 11 subject will have three periods allotted. Students will be given a brief overview of the course, as well as holiday home learning. Students will need to bring writing materials, but all other resources will be provided either via Siena Central or by the subject teacher. 

Please note that 2019 staffing has not been finalised and therefore, the subject teacher who takes the Head Start class may not be the 2019 subject teacher. 

End of Year Dates

Years 7 to 9 students will finish on Thursday, 6 December at 12:30pm. 

We are looking forward to the celebration of our students’ academic accomplishments at our Academic Awards Evening on Wednesday, 12 December. Invitations to this event will be emailed to the award winners, their parents and guardians in the coming weeks. 

The last VCAA Examination takes place on Wednesday, 21 November and the Year 12 results will be published on Friday, 14 December. There has been a wonderful, positive energy surrounding these examinations with students commenting on the fairness of the examination papers. Our students have been behaving in an exemplary manner and doing themselves and the College proud. With just a few exams remaining until Wednesday, many of our students will have finished their examinations or will do so shortly. May you and your families enjoy some much deserved relaxation. I would like to acknowledge and thank all of our Year 12 teachers who have worked tirelessly to prepare our students. 

The following 37 students participated in an Australian Music Examinations Board practical exam this year. Congratulations to everyone involved for their hard work in preparing for the exam; we hope you found the experience educational and rewarding. The results were outstanding and reflective of the practice and effort you put into your instruments. 

In 2019, we will begin the year with a selection of sculptures from our current Year 7 Art students on display at the Term 1, Zart Art Exhibition. The artworks were generated during the 3D folio Unit where the girls were challenged to design and construct a Mythical Creature that also incorporated visual elements from Mexican folk art –Alebrijes. The sculptures utilised wire armatures as the framework on which a paper clay skin was applied and then painted in elaborate designs.

The exhibition opening is on Thursday, 20 December 2018. Congratulations to the following students who will have their artwork on display during Term 1, 2019 in the Zart Art Student Gallery at Box Hill:

Lucy Parnell
Isabella Spillane
Athena Tsonis
Isabelle Monaco
Sarah Murphy
Priya Doyle
Eleni Pope
Ciara Newman
Indira D’Sylva
Yasmin Korfiatis
Grace Condon
Maddie Simmons
Abbie Sullivan
Kaitlin Patterson
Anita Boussioutas

It has been an exciting month for Mathematics at Siena College. Our Year 12 students have been working extremely hard in preparing for their VCAA examinations, completing a multitude of practice papers at school and at home. We hope they have been able to successfully navigate their way through the examination period, and we wish them well for the future.

Our Year 7 cohort had a visit from the World of Maths where they were able to do some fun hands on STEM activities in small groups.

In August a number of our students sat the Australian Mathematics Competition run by the Australian Mathematics Trust. The girls recently received a certificate with their results, with Maria Ng receiving a high distinction, placing her in the top twp percent across Australasia. We also had twelve students receive Distinctions across Years 7 to 10, with another thirty five also receiving Credits. We congratulate all the girls that participated and we look forward to providing them with further opportunities to challenge and extend themselves next year.

Dear Parents and Guardians

Thank you all for your cooperation and understanding with the parking restrictions and site traffic management thus far. As per our previous correspondence, there will be further changes from Tuesday, 20 November 2018 as we commence with the driveway works.  

Buses will now collect and drop off students on Riversdale Road, between the entry and exit gates.  This will become a bus only zone and will be sign posted by the Boroondara City Council.  This means no parking or standing for cars in this zone. Staff will be present as students arrive and depart from buses.

To assist parents, the attached College map provides three options for morning and afternoon drop off/pick up, to alleviate pressure on limited parking and congestion in the narrow roads surrounding the school boundary:

Siena-College-Map (366 KB)   
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1. Pedestrian Gate 7 (at the rear of the school, off Hocknell Street) will be open between 7.30am to 9.00am and from 3.00pm to 5.00pm
2. Pedestrian Gate 8 (off Wattle Valley Road) will be open from 7.30am
3. Pedestrian Gate 4 (adjacent to the gym on Riversdale Road) will also be open for student access, as normal 

Please note there will be no pedestrian access to the College via Compton Street. By parking in a legal manner with consideration for our neighbours, congestion around the school grounds will be reduced and safety maintained. The safety of our students and easing congestion for busy parents are of paramount importance. We hope that these combined measures assist all parents as we undertake these vital building works.

 In the latest edition of the Siena Career News there are important dates for Year 12’s, an Information Evening next week at Swinburne University and details of the Academy of Interactive Entertainment Open Day this weekend.

For current Year 10 and 11 students, there is information on a three day school holiday Science Program at Monash University from 9 - 11 January.

Open exhibitions include the Monash University MADA exhibition, the Whitehouse College of Fashion graduate’s exhibition and fashion runway and Deakin University’s Paperspace Exhibition which showcases the work of their Architecture students.

On 2 November, students from Years 7-10 completed a six week short film appreciation course. The primary focus was to learn about suspense, theme, plot, and character by viewing a combination of award winning live action and animated short films. Prior to each viewing session, students learnt about the theory, students then watched the film(s), and finally students discussed the theory, drawing evidence from the films. Students reported that they found the films 'surprising' and 'clever', particularly when the films had twist endings.

Students who took part were Aurelia Tjitji, Cara Chen, Emily Ovens, Indira D'Sylva, Lucinda Burgin Uhlherr, and Olivia Redford.

Siena College is pleased to advise that the next stage of our parent portal, Siena Central, to go ‘live’ will be the 2019 fees schedule.  Parents will be emailed a link and letter from the Chair of the Siena College Board on Thursday, 22 November.   All parents are encouraged to update their details via Siena Central and video tutorials are available to assist with the process.  If you require any assistance, please contact ithelp@siena.vic.edu.au

Portsea is often called the playground for the rich and famous. Prominent in this seaside area is Delgany Castle, now part of a holiday resort and frequently advertised in the media. For the Dominican community, the excerpt above highlights our thoughts when we think of ‘Delgany’

We are fortunate to have in our Archives the above quoted issue of ‘The Dominican’. It gives an extensive physical description of Delgany and an account of the earliest days of the school.

Caring for deaf children has been a treasured ministry of our Dominican sisters. Siena students, especially of the 1950s and 1960s, had a particular connection to Delgany. Archival donations from our past students include photos of Delgany, its pupils and buildings. We have a letter from one Siena student, during a weeklong stay at Delgany, describing to another student the activities she is missing by not being there. A number of Dominican sisters, who are past students of Siena, taught at Delgany including Srs Frances Caine and Joan Winter.

We extend a warm welcome to the following new staff:

• Jennie Young commenced as our College Receptionist
• Simone Robertson commenced as a Learning Enhancement officer 

As we continue the enrolment process for students wishing to enter Siena College for Year 7 in 2020, we would like to remind any current families with daughters in Grade 5 to please ensure that you have submitted an enrolment form.  Enrolment information and our College Prospectus can be viewed online at www.siena.vic.edu.au/enrolment/enrolment-procedures

Parents can now complete an Application for Enrolment online at https://apply.siena.vic.edu.au

Halloween

All Hallows = All Saints, Feast of All Saints/Hallows,1 November
E’en = Even(ing)
Evening before the Feast of All Hallows = Halloween, 31 October

Before commercialism hijacked this beautiful commemoration many cultures remembered their dead around this time.  It is felt to be when the veil between heaven and earth is at its most fine.

Mass of Remembrance 

One of the obligations of Christians is to pray for the dead. It is also an important part of the Dominican spiritual tradition.  Siena hosts a Mass of Remembrance close to the Church’s celebration of All Souls Day each year.  This year’s Mass will be held in the College Chapel on Thursday, 8 November at 7.30pm.  

Feast of St Martin de Porres (3 November)

A Dominican saint, Martin is the patron of mixed race people, barbers, innkeepers, public health workers and all those seeking racial harmony. Read more about him here.

Year 12 Graduation Eucharist

‘As much as you are a challenge, you are a gift to us too, as you are seeing your life, your family, our society through fresh eyes; you want to claim your independence and that may mean clashing with us, your family and friends – we accept that and promise to be with you in that; you have shown in your way of being here within the College that you are living and claiming some very important values – among them a passion for questions of justice… My personal wish for you is that you continue to allow your inner spiritual selves to grow strong. Look to the Creator, the God who is present to us in Jesus, who, whether we recognize it fully or not, is daily and always at your side, accompanying you at every moment, in the tough and dark times, as well in the good and joyous. Be messengers throughout your life of Siena College’s great motto: VERITAS, TRUTH. You know that this evocative word has stood you in good stead for the past six years. May it continue to be a reason for hope in yourselves and your best reason for living. And may God may go with you in truth, peace and love, throughout the joyous days of your future lives.’
Fr Kevin Toomey OP

Image Captions
Main Image: Mia Catalano, 2018 Ministry Captain
Gallery Image 1: All Saints All Souls
Gallery Image 2: Martin de Porres

Term 4 is a hive of activity and preparation as the VCAA exams commence and our students in Years 9 to 11 prepare for their exams. Please remember that our staff and teachers are always available to offer help and support.

As we approach the weekend, we would like to remind you that the College is closed on Monday, 5 November, the day preceding Melbourne Cup Day. There will be staff supervising the VCAA examinations and monitoring phone messages but the College and Student Receptions will be closed. 

Important Dates for this Term

1 November: 2019 Year 11 student subject choices sent via email 
1 November: 2019 Year 11 Booklists emailed to parents and students
1 November: Year 9/10 Revision materials published via SC 
2 November: Year 11 Activity Free week commences
5 November: Student free day
5 November: VCAA Exams, Further Mathematics and Business Management
8 November: 2019 Years 8 to 10 student subject choices sent via email 
8 November: 2019 Years 8 to 10 booklists emailed to parents and students
9 November: Year 11 Revision commences 
9 November: Year 10 Activity Free week commences

Curriculum Writing Day

On Wednesday, 24 October, Siena College teaching staff participated in a highly productive day updating the curriculum and assessments dates in preparation for next year.  The 2018 courses were reviewed with a focus on what the essential learnings are, for our students in 2019. Staff will continue to work on finalising the documentation that will then be uploaded onto Siena Central.

Siena Central

As our community becomes more familiar with the Parent Portal of Siena Central, it will become our primary method of communication and the information available to you will be gradually expanded. The College key dates, exam timetables and booklists are now available on the Parent Portal. We ask that you utilise this wonderful resource to assist you with sourcing information in regards to the College and our scheduled activities. When you log in to Siena Central the first page provides access to the ‘Tiles’ below, to facilitate your search. On the far right we have an ‘Important Information’ section that offers links to the most current and relevant documentation.

You are always welcome to contact the College if you experience any difficulty logging in or locating information.

During the second week of term, we celebrated Arts and Technology Week culminating in our annual Visual Arts and Technology Exhibition. Artist in Residence, Lucile Sciallano introduced the girls to her 3D ceramic printing practice where the girls learnt how this method allows the production of artwork that is very different to that of traditional clay building techniques. Students also had the opportunity to view the Year 12 Drama Solo Performances prepared in readiness for their end of year examination. Other activities included an opportunity for students to create a painting using virtual reality equipment, experiment with robotics and join in a lunchtime disco. All these activities allowed students to participate and deepen their exposure to The Arts and Technology.

The Visual Arts and Technology Exhibition showcased diverse work from Year 7 to 12 students and it was wonderful to see the culmination of all the hard work and effort from the Year 12 students. I would like to thank our special guest speaker, Amanda Meiklejohn from Williams Ross Architects, who shared with us her career journey and kindly opened the exhibition. Across all areas of Art and Design, students produce many beautiful, creative and skilful works. Mietta Borg, Year 12, was the recipient of both the Principal's Award and People’s Choice Award with her mixed media conceptual artwork titled ‘38 months’, which explored her own personal journey with a medical condition. She is a very deserving winner who bravely dealt with an issue that was personal to her and others suffering from the same condition.

I would like to congratulate all the staff and students involved on a very successful Arts and Technology Week.

Young Adult author, Ellie Marney visited Siena College last week to work with our Year 9 English students who are preparing for their next unit on ‘Crime Writing’.  Ellie worked with each Year 9 class, talking to students about how she develops ideas for a crime story. Each class then worked together on their own story concept.

This was an invaluable experience for our students to learn how published authors develop story ideas. Students will continue working in their English classes on their own story concepts.  We thank Ellie for spending time with our Year 9s and we look forward to seeing the thrilling crime stories they will produce!

Siena College has had a busy start to Term 4 GSV Sport, fielding several teams in Cricket, Water Polo and Basketball. Our Cricket teams have had mixed results so far, with the Junior team (pictured) overcoming Ruyton Girls’ School, while falling just short against Lauriston Girls’ School, losing by two runs in the last over. Our Junior Water Polo teams have had several weeks of training with an enthusiastic squad and have their first round of game this week. Our Basketballers continue to produce promising results, the standout teams so far have been the Junior B and C teams, which have won of all their games and currently sit first in their zones. 

On Saturday, 20 October, Siena College Sport was on full display at our annual Open Day, with the final of the Tennis tournament and a number of Aerobics routines. Many prospective parents and students toured the College and were able to familiarise themselves with Siena’s sports facilities and GSV program. The final sporting event for the year, the Celebration of Sport Evening, will be held in December, where we will recognise the amazing sporting achievements of our students. 

There are a number of individual sporting achievements to note:

• Emer McGing, who finished as the National Champion in the Junior Ladies 17 Years Championships at the Australian Irish Dancing National Championships in Cairns. An outstanding achievement!
• Victoria Zikas, Johanna Zikas and Laura Griss participated for the GSV Representative Soccer team at the Interstate Challenge competition in the Gold Coast. They won all four games against representative state teams to win the whole tournament. 

Many thanks to Johanna Zikas and Chloe Dang for their efforts as Siena College Sports Captains for 2018, we wish them all the best for the future. I would also like to take this opportunity to welcome the 2019 Siena College Sports Captains: Monica Ciampa and Melitta Allen.

Rising Stars Concert

On Wednesday, 31 October all Year 7 Instrumental Music students performed in the inaugural Rising Stars Concert in the College Hall. The energy was electrifying from the student performers who thoroughly deserved the rousing audience applause. The concert included performances from Junior Band, Junior Choir, Junior Guitar Ensemble, Junior String Ensemble as well as solos, duets and chamber ensemble performances. It was a fantastic opportunity to feature our talented students in Year 7 and to celebrate how far they have come since the start of the year. Congratulations to all students and staff on a wonderful evening.

Summer Concert

The Summer Concert will be held on Wednesday, 5 December from 4.30pm at the rear of the school. This is a relaxed concert with many of the large and small ensembles performing pieces they have been working on this term, including Christmas carols. This is a whole school event and we warmly invite the wider Siena College community to come and enjoy the festivities.

Key Dates

Tuesday, 4 December:  Melbourne Womens' International Jazz Festival, Jazz Lab Brunswick.  Stage Band required
Wednesday, 5 December: Summer Concert, Siena College from 4.30pm.  All ensembles
Monday, 12 December :Siena College Awards Evening, Hawthorn Arts Centre. Canti Dolce, Stage Band.

Current year 10 students and families are invited to attend the Kopanang Immersion 2019 Information Evening, on Tuesday, 13 November at 6.30pm (Albertus Magnus Library).

Year 11 (2019) students have the opportunity to participate in what has been described as a life changing and enriching immersion program in South Africa. Kopanang is a womens' community project that addresses the impact of HIV/AIDS and endemic poverty in the township of Tsakane situated 55 km south east of Johannesburg. It is a township created as the labour force for the gold mines in the area through forced removal of people in the apartheid era. After the last mine closure in 2006 there has been an unprecedented level of unemployment impacting more than 80% of the population. Most of the women of Kopanang have been deprived of an adequate education, further exacerbating their ability to survive and provide for their families.

The Kopanang community project was cofounded by Sr Sheila Flynn OP to provide the women with a healing space to share their life experiences, their faith and cultural heritage and to learn embroidery and craft skills to enable them to generate a small income. 

Students also assist at Sithand’izingane Care Project, located on the same site as Kopanang, which provides a child care program for pre-school children, many of whom are orphaned, a home based support program for the sick, a feeding program, tutoring and afterschool educational programs for the children and adolescents in the township.  Students spend two weeks living with a host family in Tsakane and assist with the everyday programs offered at Kopanang. 

This week’s edition of Siena Career News contains some very important information for Year 12s in particular, but will also be of interest to students and parents in other year levels.  Students should always be aware of pathway courses into their 'dream course' at tertiary institutions and this week’s Siena Career News lists the best ways of entering particular universities in the event that you do not receive the ATAR required for your preferred course.

There are also timely suggestions regarding some useful websites and apps to assist with study skills and exam preparation, a new Diploma in Screen and Media at Holmesglen Institute and some new initiatives from Monash University.  These include 'Parent Chat', information and advice for parents on science degree options at Monash and an event, 'Experience the Peninsula Campus' – with a focus on Para Medicine, Nursing and Education.  

College Register

Our College register is precious. The beginnings of Siena come to life when we read the names, beautifully handwritten, of our first students. The first page reveals the names of two very special women in our community. Loyis Gibson (née Olive) is student number seventeen and Sr Frances Caine is student number twenty-one. As Archivists, we note with interest that Loyis is spelt ‘Lois’ in the register. Both Loyis and Frances began their life at Siena on 4 February 1941. We value their wisdom, their memories, their donations, their support and especially their continuing presence and connection with our staff and students. We are blessed to have Loyis, Frances and other early alumnae as regular visitors to Siena.

Special thanks to Jacqui Raynor (née Harris).

At the end of last term, Jacqui donated a Siena College badge which had been worn by her family in the 1960s.

Maria Ang and Maureen McAuley
College Archivists

 Image captions

1. 1941 College Register
2. Margaret Smith and Frances Caine
3. 1941 College photo
4. 2018 Alumnae Panel 

As we continue the enrolment process for students wishing to enter Siena College for Year 7 in 2020, we would like to remind any current families with daughters in Grade 5 to please ensure that you have submitted an enrolment form.  Enrolment information and our College Prospectus can be viewed online at www.siena.vic.edu.au/enrolment/enrolment-procedures

Parents can now complete an Application for Enrolment online at https://apply.siena.vic.edu.au

Fiona R of Year 10 was the lucky winner of the Amazon Alexa Echo Dot in the Canteen's Term 3 Online Order competition!

Congratulations to Fiona from all of the Canteen staff!

We are pleased to announce the winners of the Siena Parents' Association Annual Raffle, drawn today by Carmel Musco, SPA President.

First prize: 
Fazna Farook
One year's College fees or a Travel Voucher to the value of $13,300

Second prize:
Lisa Mavraganis
One term's College fees or a Travel Voucher to the value of $3,300

Third prize:
Carly Gruzewski
$1,000 David Jones Voucher

Thank you to our community for your generous support of the SPA Annual Raffle and congratulations to all winners.

We congratulate all of our students whose work was selected for this year's Shared Stories anthology, a joint project between twenty four Victorian regional and metropolitan Catholic secondary schools.  This year's theme was 'Live Simply, Simply Live' and featured a diverse range of writing and artwork across all year levels.   We are proud to share some excerpts of our student's work:

They are mammoth now
Knocking the breath from my chest
Bottomless mounds of blue, rising and falling mercilessly
Ribbons of silty water twist along the deck
Fear is in my mouth and eyes and ears and heart

I am sitting
In the corner
There is a gust of warm wind
And I hug my knees, shivering

 Waves spit against the boat
And sea spray covers my face like freckles
My hunger is a monster
Snarling for attention, clawing at my insides 

Surely it isn’t much further?

Juliet Guthrie, Year 9

Death and the girl looked at each other for quite some time.

‘Well, you’re here early,’ said Death eventually.
‘I guess so,’ said the girl, ‘shouldn’t you be used to this by now?’
‘I suppose I should be,’ sighed Death, ‘you don’t seem very frightened.’
‘Yeah,’ said the girl, ‘I guess it can’t be helped.’

They were standing on a cliff at the edge of a forest. The sun was setting behind a vast skyline of trees,
which stirred slightly every once in a while due to a rogue puff of wind. Two birds were singing gaily to
each other in the distance.

‘So,’ said Death, ‘where are we?’

Kayla Gadaleta, Year 10

Congratulations to the Class of 2018

We are once again so pleased to congratulate our Year 12 students on their outstanding results in the 2018 Victorian Certificate of Education.  Our students are our greatest assets and the Class of 2018, like those before, have developed into articulate, accomplished and empowered young women during their time at Siena College.

3% of students achieved an Australian Tertiary Admissions Ranking (ATAR) of 99 or above, placing them in the top 1% of students in the State

12% of students achieved an Australian Tertiary Admissions Ranking (ATAR) of 95 or above, placing them in the top 5% of students in the State

28% of our students achieved an Australian Tertiary Admissions Ranking (ATAR) of 90 or above, placing them in the top 10% of students in the State

57% of students, over half, achieved an ATAR of 80 or above, placing them in the top 20% of students in the State

The College maintained a Median Study Score of 34 for the seventh consecutive year

17.5% of Study Scores were 40 or above, placing them in the top 9% of students in the State

Median ATAR of 83.73

Congratulations to 2018 College Dux, Katherine Kim, who achieved an ATAR of 99.85 and the following students who all scored over 99:
Elizabeth Dee 99.75, Bianca Cleland 99.6, Lily Jackson-Martin 99.0

Seven perfect Study Scores of 50 were achieved
Business Management: Sarah Murphy, Bianca Cleland
English: Lily Jackson-Martin, Bianca Cleland
Health and Human Development: Grace Power
Legal Studies: Bianca Cleland
Physical Education: Grace Power

I thank and commend the Class of 2018 on the contribution they have made to Siena College over the past six years in all endeavours that they have pursued. Their leadership, service to others and their contribution to the cocurricular life of the College have added to the richness of our community. We are immensely proud of the young women they have become and I am confident that they will go on beyond the gates of Siena and make intelligent and responsible use of their personal gifts.

I would also like to acknowledge the expertise and guidance of our staff who have supported then throughout their time at Siena College.

Gaynor Robson-Garth
Principal

Dear Parents and Guardians

We wish to advise all parents that building works on the Convent are ongoing as the final stages of this project are completed. From the beginning of Term 1, the front carpark area and driveway will be unavailable for student drop off and pick up. The main entrance and exit gates on Riversdale Road will be accessible only to staff and buses. School buses will operate as normal, with additional barricading for student safety around the Convent. 

To assist parents, the attached College map provides three options for morning and afternoon drop off/pick up, to alleviate pressure on limited parking and congestion in the narrow roads surrounding the school boundary: 

• Pedestrian Gate 7 (at the rear of the school, off Hocknell Street) will be open between 7.30am to 9.00am and from 3.00pm to 5.00pm 

• Pedestrian Gate 8 (off Wattle Valley Road) will be open from 7.30am 

• Pedestrian Gate 4 (adjacent to the gym on Riversdale Road) will also be open for student access, as normal Please note there will be no pedestrian access to the College via Compton Street. 

The safety of our students and easing traffic congestion for busy parents are of paramount importance. We hope that these combined measures assist all parents as we complete these vital building works. These restrictions will remain in place until further notice.

Thank you

Tony Grant
Business Manager

Building Works Map (371 KB)   
> View Document

We pray…

Over the school holiday break and over the past fortnight we have witnessed the forces of nature devastating lives in other parts of our world

God of mercy and compassion, we ask for your blessing on those whose lives have been affected by recent natural disasters.                                               
Comfort them in their loss of family, friends and community.                           
Give them the gift of hope to see beyond their pain and loss.

Give strength to those who work with them to rebuild their families and communities.                                                             
Bless them for their willingness to be with the grieving, the injured and the homeless.

Amen.

Visual and Performing Arts Week

“The artist is a witness of the invisible and works of art are the clearest proof that the incarnation is possible.” Pope Francis 

Much has been written about the connection between the arts and spirituality; Dominicans through the ages have recognised the integral part that the arts play in preaching God’s Word to a hungry world.

During the course of this week students and staff have been provided with rich opportunities to engage with the arts on many levels – this experience of the transcendent though words, actions and images is very much a part of our charism and its appreciation of beauty in the everyday.

Learning and Teaching Curriculum Writing Day

Wednesday, 24 October is Curriculum Writing Day for teachers and therefore a student free day.  Teachers work in teams to update the curriculum and assessment dates in preparation for 2019. It is a very productive day as our staff begin the process of reviewing 2018 courses and what the essential learnings are for our students.

2019 Year 10 to 12 Bring Your Own Device

Current Year 9 students who have been using an iPad over the last two years, may continue to bring that device to support their learning in 2019.  Alternatively, students in Years 10, 11 and 12 may choose to bring another tablet or laptop to Siena College to use.  The Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) program enables senior students to choose the technology that best suits their needs and learning style.  

In 2019, we recommend one of three options; a Tablet, Windows Notebook Device or an Apple Notebook Device. We have a partnership with ‘CompNow’ who provide new devices at competitive prices.  A letter will be sent shortly with further information regarding preferred devices.

VCAA Examinations

We wish all our students undertaking Unit 3 and 4 examinations the very best in their study and in their examinations. We would also like to acknowledge the dedication and work of our committed Year 12 teachers who have worked with our girls this year.  We wish all students well as they prepare for these final semester examinations.

2019 Subject Selection

Over the next weeks, students will receive via email their 2019 proposed subjects and the Booklist package.  If there are any issues with subject selections, students should contact Liz Carr. 
The dates for release are as follows:

• Year 12 on 25 October
• Year 11 on 1 November
• Years 8, 9 and 10 on 8 November

2019 Year 7 families will be emailed next Thursday, 25 October regarding access to the parent portal, Siena Central.  Here they can view book lists and iPad requirements.

Over the first week of the holidays, nine very fortunate Year 10 and 11 students had the privilege of participating in Siena’s Indigenous Immersion Program in Alice Springs, Northern Territory. The trip offered an authentic opportunity to learn more about ancient Aboriginal culture amidst the amazing landscape of the Australian outback.

To commence the trip, the Siena girls teamed up with Catholic Mission to host a soup van in Alice Springs. We offered both food and drink to indigenous and non indigenous locals, it was very humbling to offer small gestures of support to people facing a range of challenges. Our girls showed considerable maturity and empathy in helping people living with considerable disadvantage. The soup van gave us plenty to think about – particularly a reinforced sense of gratitude at how fortunate we are. 

We were very grateful for the opportunity to immerse ourselves with indigenous students from Alice Springs’ Flexible Learning Centre throughout the trip. Together we explored beautiful parts of Alice Springs such as Simpsons Gap and Emily Gap, and learnt how to cook traditional kangaroo tail out in the hot Australian outback. Their continued presence and hospitality was invaluable and offered an authentic experience for our girls. 

Towards the end of the trip, it was great to take a break and put our ‘tourist’ hats on and enjoy the magnificent sight of Uluru, both at dawn and dusk. The transforming colours of the rock face under varying degrees of light was amazing and provided plenty of great photo opportunities for our girls. Seeing such a cultural icon up close was unforgettable, and we were stunned by both its beauty and size. Our 10km walk around Uluru provided a chance to see the rock up close, including various waterholes and Aboriginal paintings at its base. 

Dom Loschiavo
Teacher

Each term, teachers and students focus on a different Learning Quadrant from our ‘Shared Understanding of Learning’ framework that reflects our pedagogical practice and promotes teaching and learning endeavours in the classroom. In Term 3, the focus was on the ‘Learning Skills’ quadrant:

Throughout Term 3, I was able to conduct Learning Walks with students from Years 7-12, asking them to reflect on how ‘skills’ have enhanced their learning in the classroom. These are some of the student responses:

 What kinds of learning skills have you developed in this class?

 ‘Creative thinking’
‘ to effectively plan my writing piece’
‘to communicate my ideas in group discussions’
‘to be more focused on independent learning’
‘ I am able to locate information and analyse it’

How does your teacher enable you to use critical and creative thinking skills in the classroom?

 ‘through interactive learning: guided and independent practice’
‘through group discussions and activities: learning from others’
‘by allowing us to collaborate with others through seating plans and putting us into different learning groups’
‘by encouraging us to ask questions and to find out the answers ourselves’

How do you show your learning in this class?

‘through self-reflection journal writing’
‘by answering questions in discussions’
‘by participating – being engaged, active listening, present- centred’
‘by helping to teach others – peer tutoring’
‘through assessments both formative and summative’
‘getting feedback on your learning from the teacher’

How does your teacher inspire independence in you as a learner?

 ‘sometimes it is better to work on your own to really test your learning and understanding’
‘teachers sometimes encourage us to take risks when learning something new’
‘the teacher challenges me to learn new things – step out of our comfort zone’
‘by asking us to answer questions in front of the class’
‘allowing me to make mistakes and learn from them’

This term we will focus on the fourth and final quadrant – Learning Relationships:

 Our learning focus in Term 4 will be on continuing to forge strong working relationships in the classroom between students and teachers and students and students to build on the skills of collaboration and continuing to foster learning partnerships in the classroom to maximise successful learning outcomes.

Michelle Robertson

Cabaret Night

The inaugural Cabaret Night was held 11 October in the Susan Alberti Auditorium. It was a terrific evening featuring Siena’s pianists and vocal students and students from Years 7-12 were very excited to perform for an appreciative audience. The vocalists performed contemporary repertoire and the pianists performed a wide range of solos. I would also like to acknowledge the ‘house band’ and the instrumental teachers for preparing students for the evening. It was fantastic to see so many students who have limited experience performing solos performing so well.

Clarinet Workshop Day

On Monday 15 October all the Siena College clarinettists attended a clarinet workshop day with Georgina Oakes. Georgina is an internationally recognised clarinettist with experience as a soloists and orchestra player. Our students participated in masterclasses, performed in a combined clarinet ensemble and they were amazed at Georgina’s recital. Thank you to Mr Ed Ferris for organising such a wonderful learning opportunity for our students.

Siena College has begun Term 4 sport with a busy first few weeks, with senior cricket and basketball games being held twice a week. Junior and intermediate basketball for Girls’ Sport Victoria (GSV) has also started, with fixtures through until late November. Siena College has had mixed results in basketball, with our senior (2 teams) and junior (6) teams winning and losing similar amounts of games, as well as our senior cricket team off to a strong start, beating Our Lady of Sion College and Ivanhoe Girl’s Grammar School comfortably. Siena College’s junior water polo and junior cricket teams commence shortly. All the best to all of our teams for the season ahead.   

Siena College Sport is looking forward to the annual College Open Day, with the Latingata Morrom gymnasium open to prospective students and parents, showcasing the fantastic facilities and programs on offer. We will also have the final of our Tennis tournament and our school aerobics team will have an opportunity to display their fantastic national routines. Our annual Celebration of Sport evening is also fast approaching (more details to follow), where we will be celebrating the fantastic year of sport and the team and individual achievements. 

Late in Term 3, six politically astute students attended the Victorian Secondary Students Parliamentary Constitutional Convention to debate the interesting topic, "Does the Constitution meet the needs of Modern Australia?". Students from thirty schools across Victoria debated and discussed in Victorian Parliament's Legislative Assembly chamber and ultimately strongly disagreed with the proposition. Congratulations to Mia Horozides, Teagan Matthews, Jema Mueller, Katya Scacco, Annie Walsh and Natasha Walsh for representing Siena with pride and talent. They now have the chance to be selected for the National Convention in Canberra in March 2019.  .

Michael Petrie
Year 10 Politics Teacher

The buzz was electric at Kingswood College on Wednesday 10 October for the Year 8 Academic Challenge. Siena’s Year 8 students Sienna Justus, Trinity Ng, Lucy O’Connell, Pia Perini, Mikayla Rollnik, Charlotte Ryan, Maliana Tapusoa and Aurelia Tjitji joined with 107 enquiring minds across eight schools testing their skills in Mathematics, Science, General Knowledge, Public Speaking, English, Code Braking, Poetry and Art. The event embodied the collegiate spirit with each team composed of mix of student from different schools. These events provide our students with precious opportunities to expand their minds and develop healthy networks with like minded students.

Building works have commenced on our iconic Convent and Cloisters, as we transform this area into the Gateway of the College.  We thank all parents for their patience and understanding during these works. 

What a fabulous fundraiser to start our scholarship fund!  Our thanks once again to guest speaker, Jade Rawlings and our sponsor, Mitchelton Wines.  

The latest edition of the Siena Career News features some reminders about important dates for Year 12s as well as information on the new UCAT test for entry into Medicine courses in Australian Universities.  There is also information on a Maths bridging program run by Swinburne University for students who do not have the VCE Maths recommended for the undergraduate degree of their choice at Swinburne.  Health Sciences are always popular course choices for our students but many are unaware of the benefits of studying Orthoptics, this week’s newsletter explains what Orthoptics is and where a degree in Orthoptics can take you.

A warm welcome is extended to all of our new staff:

• Anna Page commenced as a Religious Education Teacher
• Rena McKenzie commenced as a Mathematics Teacher 
• Josh Bennier commenced as an Instrumental Music Teacher

 At the end of Term 3 we fondly farewelled:

• Maria Contaxis who has worked as the College’s Assistant Business Manager for the past five years. We wish Maria well as she explores new opportunities.
• Lisa Anderson who has looked after our students and staff over the past three years as our Health Centre Coordinator.  We wish her well in her new role at Box Hill TAFE. 
• Emily Caracella who has commence her parental leave.  We wish her well and look forward to sharing her wonderful news with you soon. 

As we continue the enrolment process for students wishing to enter Siena College for Year 7 in 2020, we would like to remind any current families with daughters in Grade 5 to please ensure that you have submitted an enrolment form.  Enrolment information and our College Prospectus can be viewed online at www.siena.vic.edu.au/enrolment/enrolment-procedures

Parents can now complete an Application for Enrolment online at https://apply.siena.vic.edu.au

Another busy and productive term has drawn to a close and I am sure everyone in our community is looking forward to a few weeks at a slower pace and some time to reflect.  

Last week we conducted interviews for 2019 College Captains.  Eight students undertook a rigorous process of application, an interview with the Leadership Team and the presentation of their speeches at the College Assembly, to students and staff.  Each student spoke passionately and eloquently and it was wonderful to see such strong role models among our senior students.  We thank all students for their outstanding contributions and warmly congratulate Jade Devlin and Charlotte Lack, our College Captains for 2019.  

Fourteen students and three staff departed earlier this week for the Chinese Culture and Language Trip.  Another nine students and two staff left yesterday for Central Australia as part of the Indigenous Immersion experience with the Catholic Mission group.  We look forward to hearing of their travels on their return in Term 4.

We have had cause to celebrate this week with some wonderful individual and team results:  

• Zoe Kelly (Year 9), Angelina Rodos (Year 7) and Jasmine Skutela (Year 9) represented the College with distinction at the Mount Alexander Schools Chess Challenge
• Edie Mitra (Year 8) represented Victoria at the School Sports Australia Diving Championships in Perth, placing fourth in the one metre and three metre Springboard events and achieving a silver medal in the Team Synchro competition 
• Jemma Rigoni (Year 8) won bronze in the GSV 400m Athletics finals for her age group
• Our Aerobics team achieved remarkable results at the National AeroSchools Championships on the Gold Coast.  Jessica Higgins (Year 7), Olivia Kershaw (Year 8) and Ella Graham (Year 8), coached by Chelsea Buswell (Year 11), placed first in their division.  All results are published in Sporting News

As we commence Pillar IV of the Butterfly Campaign, Transforming the Convent into the Gateway of the College, we remind families that building works will commence over the holidays.  There will be disruption to access from the beginning of Term 4 with the front carpark and driveway unavailable for student drop off and pick up.  Communication has been sent to families regarding alternate drop off points.  Please click here for further information. 

Mrs Robson-Garth is presently on enrichment leave as part of the retired and current Principals tour of South America.  The tour has included visits to missions in Bolivia, work with Christians for Peace in El Salvador (CRISPAZ) and visits to places of Dominican significance including the Las Casas Institute.  She writes of her experience: 

I have no words to describe this amazing place.  There is a deep sense of spirituality and the most amazing mountains I have ever seen.  We have had some very moving and confronting experiences, meetings with people in El Salvador searching for loved ones who disappeared through Mexico trying to get to the US, visiting a memorial to over 70,000 who were killed in Peru by the Shining Path, including Josephite Nun Irene McCormack and children as young as three.  Yesterday, in contrast to the impressive Spanish architecture of Lima, we visited an area in the outskirts called Canto Grande that people are flooding into. We also met the father of liberation theology, ninety year old Gustavo Gutierrez and visited the place where Archbishop Romero was killed.  

We wish all students, staff and families a safe and relaxing holiday break.  We hold the Year 12 students in our thoughts and prayers as they undertake trial exams during the second week of the holidays and as they prepare for their final VCE examinations. Term 4 commences for students on Monday, 8 October.

Celebrate Year 12

Year 12 students marked their final Religious Education class for the year on Thursday in a moving Liturgy .The gathering was launched with a special message from Mrs Robson-Garth in Peru, accompanied by some of the beautiful images from her pilgrimage to South America.  Ministry Captain, Mia Catalano led the Liturgy where girls added to a cumulative reflection on their Siena experience and College Captains, Antoinette Collins and Hannah Petrowski shared their insights on the 2018 College Theme, 'One Body, Many Parts'.  Teachers offered readings based on this theme and returned letters that the girls had written in one of their first Religious Education classes in February, outlining their hopes and dreams for their final year of school. Heartfelt thanks to Year 12 Catholic Studies teachers and student leaders for assisting in the preparation of this celebration.

Blessing of Immersion Participants

In the Christian tradition it is commonplace to send travellers on their way with the blessing of the community, and so we gathered with the 2018 Indigenous Immersion cohort on 13 September to celebrate the Eucharist together.  At the end of the Eucharist, College Chaplain, Fr Kevin Toomey OP blessed our Immersion participants with the following words:

God of all pilgrims
you walk with us on every step of our journey.
Bless these travellers  
Siena’s participants in the 2018 Indigenous Immersion experience.
May they travel lightly with:
eyes that are open to the beauty around them,
ears that are open to stories of dignity and pain
hearts that are open to signs of hope
minds that are open to new perspectives and insights
and hands that are stretched out in friendship.

May they travel with our prayers, good wishes and trust.
May those that remain behind journey with our travellers
as we gaze nightly on the moon and stars.
May Dominic guide them to share the Good News in their deeds and words.
May Catherine inspire them to be truly at one within themselves.

We ask our good and gracious God to guide and protect each one of you and return you safely
to our community with stories of an ancient people striving for justice and equity, faith, hope and love.

We make this prayer through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Parent Teacher Interviews

Thank you to all parents and guardians who attended the recent Parent Teacher Interviews.  Just a reminder that the 2018 Term 3 Interim Reports can be downloaded from Siena Central.

Unit 3 and 4 Trial Examinations

The Unit 3 and 4 trial examinations will run from Monday, 1 October to Thursday, 4 October. Students will receive their corrected trial examination papers in Term 4. A statement of trial examination results will also be available for parents to access on Tuesday, 16 October.

Term 3 Holidays

There will be no set holiday learning for Year 7 to 9 students, however, Year 10 and 11 students will have holiday home learning. Students undertaking a Unit 4 subject will need to use their holiday break well in order to prepare for the trial examinations and the upcoming VCAA examinations.

Members of the Siena Community gathered together on Friday, 7 September to participate in the annual Night of Change.  Students, parents and staff entered into the evening with high spirits and generous hearts.  Siena musicians, including the Stage Band and Year 12 students, entertained the crowd with their usual high quality performances.  Families, friends and colleagues sat in teams, shared food and participated in Disco Bingo, Trivia and Silent Auctions.

The night is a major fundraising event for the Kopanang Community in South Africa.  Participants from the 2018 South African Immersion shared their personal experiences and stories of the privileged time spent living with these wonderfully stoic, inclusive, funny and empowering women.

The evening was a wonderful success and a reflection of the hard effort and dedication of our Student Representative Council (SRC) and the generosity of Siena families and local businesses who donated services or products for the Silent Auction and other prizes.  Our Night of Change raised just over $5500, all of which will be donated to the Kopanang Community Trust.  The funds will go towards improving the lives of the women and families of Kopanang.  

Aerobics

Our Aerobics team achieved outstanding results at the National AeroSchools Championships on the Gold Coast this week.  Team placings were as follows:

• First Place, Level 3 Intermediate Trio: Ella Graham, Jessica Higgins and Olivia Kershaw 
• Second Place, Level 4 Senior Group: Samantha De Monte, Ellie Dickinson, Emer McGing, Claudia Perez and Bec Pitman
• Third Place, Level 4 Senior Pairs: Samantha De Monte and Emer McGing
• Third Place, Level 4 Intermediate Group: Sophia Bolton, Meg Curtin, Emma Highfield and Grace Kim
• Fourth Place, Level 3 Intermediate Group: Madeleine Duff, Sophie Gazzola, Olivia Gibbin, Alannah McCarthy and Kaitlin Patterson
• Sixth Place, Level 4 Intermediate Pairs: Meg Curtin and Emma Highfield

Ella Gurry and Tess Hayes also performed brilliantly but were unlucky not to place in the Level 5 Intermediate Pairs.  Congratulations to all students, including Chelsea Buswell (Year 11) for coaching the winning team, and to staff and parents who accompanied the girls. A wonderful team effort!

Well Done, Edie 

Congratulations are extended to Edie Mitra, Year 8, who recently represented Victoria at the School Sports Australia Diving Championships held in Perth. Edie placed fourth in her one metre and three metre Springboard events and achieved a silver medal in the Team Synchro competition.  Edie was very pleased with her dives and her achievements are a wonderful acknowledgement of the commitment and dedication she displays to her sport.

GSV Results

Wrapping up a full season of Athletics, nine Siena College students participated in the GSV Athletics Finals at Lakeside Stadium on 11 September. All students did their best and represented Siena College with distinction, particularly Jemma Rigoni who won bronze in the Year 8 400m event. All of the students who came to the weekly training sessions and various GSV Athletics events throughout the term are to be congratulated on an exciting and successful season for Siena College.  

Siena College was well represented at the GSV finals, with the Second Intermediate Volleyball team finishing winners for their division and finishing third overall.  All three Junior Year 8 teams finished winners of their divisions, with the B team finishing premiers and the A and C teams runners up. Our Junior and Intermediate Soccer teams also performed extremely well, both winning their divisions and finishing runners up overall, with both teams showing a positive attitude and strong commitment.  Well done to all of the participants for Volleyball, Soccer and Badminton, who gave their best each week at training and during matches, all contributing to a successful term of sport for Siena College. 

We are eagerly anticipating Term 4, with many students involved in GSV Water Polo, Outdoor Cricket and Basketball. The final sporting event for the year will be the 2018 Celebration of Sport evening, details for which will be provided in Term 4. We look forward to an exciting term ahead and wish everyone a good holiday. 

Siena dads, have you booked you ticket to our upcoming Dads' Night In?  Exciting news: we have secured Jade Rawlings, former AFL star, 2018 VFL Coach of the Year and Siena parent as our guest speaker.  We are looking forward to a great night of fun, complete with barbecue, wine tasting (with thanks to Mitchelton Wines), virtual reality games, raffles and more. Click the image below to book: 

In partnership with The Ark Clothing Co., we would like to extend an invitation to our community to attend our Fashion Show on Friday, 26 October at 7.00pm in the Susan Alberti Auditorium.

Siena alumna, Megan Sloley (Class of 1983) has joined The Ark Clothing Co. and her team have put together a Fashion Show that provides our guests with an opportunity to view The Ark’s new summer collection.  The clothing will be modelled by The Ark employees and the styles cater for all ages and body shapes.  Ticket price also includes canapés, drinks and a Personal Styling voucher valued at $25.

Click the image below to book your tickets

On Wednesday, 12 September, six Year 12 Siena Students participated in the St Vincent de Paul Street Retreat program.  The opportunity, open to school students aged sixteen years and over, allows students to shadow the Fitzroy Soup Vans for the evening.  The vans run each night and stop at numerous locations throughout the city, providing warm meals, sandwiches, hot drinks and items such as socks, underwear, personal hygiene products, beanies and blankets to those experiencing homelessness.  

It is both a humbling and eye opening experience to come face to face with people who are in such desperate circumstances.  Through smiles, conversations, laughter and the simple act of sharing food with each other, barriers between our students and these individuals diminished.  Vinnies aims to ensure that, through their services, the dignity of each individual is maintained.  

Siena students benefited greatly from this opportunity, reflected in their testimonies below.  The school program is exceptionally well organised, with students thoroughly briefed before they depart for the evening. We look forward to being more actively involved in this program in 2019.  

Student Reflections:

'On entering the Street Retreat program held by Vinnies, I was unsure of what to expect. I found that we were fully immersed in the evening and felt a greater sense of community hidden amongst the Melbourne CBD, between the students, other volunteers and those currently experiencing homelessness. I found the whole experience inspiring and felt a real generosity between all the people I met during the evening. I learnt from this experience that something as small as a smile has the ability to bring happiness into an individual’s day and to broaden the sense of community in Melbourne. I am definitely keen to take part in more volunteer work like this in the future!'  Melanie Myrtle 

'On reflecting on the opportunity to volunteer with the Vinnie’s soup van, the aspect that struck me the most was the invisibility of homelessness in our society. I have enjoyed walking these same streets with my family and friends and have never realised the sheer numbers in our city who experience homelessness, nor the difference both a nutritious meal and a human connection could make to someone experiencing homelessness. That a simple smile or look in the eye can make a difference in a person’s day and to their feeling of self-worth and dignity.  We learnt about a regular client of the service who took two buses and a tram and then rode his bike to one of the city stops, only to decline any offers of food.  He just wanted the conversation.  He followed the van to each of the other stops to continue the conversation throughout the night. It made me aware how overlooked and ignored people experiencing homelessness often are, and how invisible they must feel.  I met a man who, during his career, had made valuable engineering contributions to Melbourne.  He now experiences homelessness. I also met a woman who had fled domestic violence that night and was experiencing her first night on the street.  She had nothing but the clothes she was wearing.   Volunteering with the Van made me feel so grateful for everything I have and to reaffirm to myself to never take anything for granted as our lives can change in a minute.  I would encourage everyone to participate in this volunteering experience.'  Grace Oliver 

'It was surreal to drive around a less crowded Melbourne city with the Soup Van. The stark contrast of visiting the city's icons,  such as Federation Square and the Queen Victoria Market,  during a week night provides a completely different perspective of our society. I continue to reflect on the variety of situations that led to these people needing the support of Vinnies. Some were fleeing domestic violence or had experienced a relationship breakdown, while one man had been coming to the Soup Van for over forty years after being the innocent victim of a coward punch.  The experience working on the Soup Van was a rewarding reminder of life beyond school. The smiles, optimism and gratitude encountered highlights that even when lifes greatest challenges present themselves, we must continue to provide solidarity as the greatest support.'   Madeleine Harriss

On Tuesday 18 September, five chess club students headed off early for Castlemaine to attend the Mount Alexander Schools Chess Challenge, which was held in the historic Old Castlemaine Gaol. 

Schools competing on the day included Castlemaine Secondary College, Girton Grammar, Bendigo South East, Melbourne High, Olivet CC, and Siena College. The games were timed with students playing seven games each over the course of the day. The chess tables were set up in the corridors of the gaol, with prison cells either side. The cold eeriness of the cells brought to the students the harsh reality of the living conditions of the inmates during the operating time from 1861 until 1990. And the solitary confinement of each stone walled cell reflected the solitary concentration the students have during a game of chess. The only noise you could hear was the clicking of the timers after every turn. I’m not sure if the chill in the air was the actual temperature or the ghosts of prisoners that were hanged for their crimes in days gone by, their bodies buried somewhere on the gaol grounds, standing upright so their souls would never be free.

The results of the day were outstanding, a gold medal to Jasmine Skutela (Year 9) and a Silver medal to Angelina Rodos (Year 7) for coming first and second respectively in the girls division. Both girls along with Zoe Kelly have qualified for Chess Victoria State Girls Final.

The Chess Club will continue next term, Wednesday lunchtimes and the Secondary Girl’s State Final will be held on Tuesday 16 October at St Catherine’s School, Toorak. Parents are welcome to attend the event.

Heather O’Keefe 
Learning Enhancement Department 

The World Scholars Cup Global Round in Melbourne saw 1600 students from 27 countries descend on the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, with some travelling from as far away as Canada, Jakarta and Dubai. The extravaganza ran over six days (17-21 August) in the beautiful South Wharf area with various competitions at host schools around Melbourne. The goal of this competition is to inspire in young people a love of learning, confidence in new skills and a sense of global citizenship.

Our intrepid scholars Mia Kelly, Lauren Edwards, and Jessica Higgins experienced the hectic pace of scavenger hunts, keynote speeches, panel discussions, the signature Scholar’s Ball, community-building events and rigorous competitive events. A true experience in debate, and build new friendships among fellow scholars from all over the world. Our Siena students found the experience immensly rewarding as they’ve expressed in their following reflections.

Student Reflections

“World Scholars Cup was an amazing experience, that provided a platform for students to connect and learn together, and meet people their age from all over the world. I learnt a lot from this experience, not only about the topics we were studying, but also social skills and creating new relationships with those around me. It taught me how to effectively study, and how to memorise large amounts of work. World Scholars Cup has given me a platform to make long lasting friendships with people all over the world, and has helped me gain lots of academic, and social knowledge.”
Jessica Higgins, Year 7

“At World Scholars Cup I learnt many things and was immersed in different cultures and their traditions. During the global round 1,600 students from all around the world came together  not only to enhance our learning and overall knowledge but to learn things we could not learn at school or anywhere else. There were six different subject areas we had to study - science, literature, music, social studies, history and the special area. These topics can be applied to all my schoolwork especially English and science as we really focused on those subjects especially the science of memory, the nervous system, films and literature of all forms. I really enjoyed that we had multiple events and activities that allowed us to merge with the other teams and countries and make new friendships that will last even after our time at world scholars is finished.”
Lauren Edwards, Year 7

The 2018 Victorian Chinese Language Teachers’ Conference was held at Camberwell Grammar School on 7 - 8 September.  It was at Camberwell Grammar sixty years ago that Chinese language was taught for the first time in Victoria, and actually anywhere outside of China except for some Asian countries.  Chinese has now become the most spoken community language in Victoria and one of the most taught languages in Victorian schools.  

To celebrate this milestone, special guests were invited to the Conference to congratulate the achievements made by Chinese teachers.  Among them were Josh Frydenberg, Deputy Liberal Leader and Treasurer, Mr Zeng Jianhua, Acting Consulate General of the PRC in Melbourne, Dr Fuxin Li, the President of CLTFA, and Mr Jixing Xu, President of CLTAV.

“Learning a language is a window to another culture, a window to tolerance, and a window to friendship,” said Mr Frydenberg.

Dr Jane Orton, the Graduate School of Education, the University of Melbourne talked about “developing quality and sustainable Chinese programs...(these) are not outcomes, but comprehensive strategies”, she explained.  Dr John Tuckfield of Camberwell Grammar has been teaching Chinese for thirty years and said that Australian Government language policy change has shown a shift from the Eurocentric policy to a focus on the Asia-Pacific region. 

The keynote speeches were followed by group discussions on the updated VCE Chinese Study Designs to be implemented next year and beyond.  A high school music band from China and some students from local schools performed traditional and modern Chinese music and dance, which was greatly appreciated by the audience.  

This week’s Siena Career News contains a reminder for Year 12’s to complete their VTAC application and pay the application fee by 27 September.  The closing date for SEAS and Scholarships is 12 October. Information sessions for extension programs at the universities are all listed – this will be of interest to students in Year 11 who are considering studying a University subject as part of their VCE.  

The reunion season at Siena is busy and exciting for both the Alumnae Office and for us in Archives. It gives us the opportunity to research and find memorabilia, photos, magazines, events, trophies, awards and yearbooks relevant to the past students who are attending the reunion.

On the day itself, it is such a joy to see the women (and their inner student) greet former classmates with shrieks of recognition, laughter and hugs. The volume and level of chatter increases as each new group of friends arrive.

It is very rewarding for us, as archivists, to see the women huddled in groups, looking at the PowerPoint, searching the photos on display boards and perusing items on the tables of memorabilia. It is a privilege to witness the bond between these women of all ages and their Siena.

We would especially like to thank Janine Bucci (Class of 1989) who recently donated her blazer and sports uniform to the Archives. We are always grateful for donations, especially those which fill the gaps in our collection. 

Maria Ang and Maureen McAuley 
College archivists

Each year the Siena Parents’ Association (SPA) hold a second hand Book sale with the support of the College, the Siena community and volunteers to assist in the sale, purchase and donation of student books.

This valuable service provides families the option to buy/sell preloved student books whilst assisting the SPA to fundraise and ultimately reinvest in College facilities to enrich our daughters’ College experience. 

This year SPA has engaged Recycled Text books for the Second Hand Book Sale.  Further correspondence relating to the intake of books and sale will be emailed to parents early next term, along with the second hand book list.  In the interim please diarise the following days:

Intake Days for second hand books

Wednesday, 5 December       8.30 – 10.00am Intake day for books from Year 7 and Year 8 Students
Thursday, 6 December           8.30 – 10.00am Intake day for books from Year 9 – 12 students
Friday, 7 December                8.30 – 10.00 am Intake for all year levels

Second Hand Book Sale – Exclusive Sale Event for Siena College
8 December 2018 @ Recycled Textbook Store
12 Arcade Road, Mont Albert North

9.00am – 2.00pm for Year 10, Year 11, and Year 12 parents
2.00pm – 7.00pm for Year 7, Year 8 and Year 9 parents

To learn more about Recycled Text Books registration please visit here

As we continue the enrolment process for students wishing to enter Siena College for Year 7 in 2020, we would like to remind any current families with daughters in Grade 5 to please ensure that you have submitted an enrolment form.  Enrolment forms and Prospectus packs are available from Reception or on the College website

'The real damage is done by those million who want to “survive”.  The honest people who just want to be left in peace.  Those who don’t want their little lives to be disturbed by anything bigger than themselves.  Those with no sides and no cause.  Those who don’t like to make waves – or enemies.  Those for whom freedom, honour, truth, and principles are only literature.'  
Sophie Scholl, White Rose member (1921-1943)

Matilda Baker, Georgia Smith and Jana Lianos were privileged to attend the White Rose Mass at Xavier College Memorial Chapel on Wednesday, 22 August.  The Mass was to mark the 75^th anniversary of the executions of six members of the White Rose, a group of German citizens who stood in opposition to the Nazi regime and paid the ultimate sacrifice.  

Following the Mass, our students participated in a Human Rights Forum with peers from schools throughout Victoria.  Participants reflected on current Human Rights issues and explored the courage involved in standing up and speaking out.  Students discussed the many and varied ways it was possible to make a difference in our contemporary world.  

Overwhelmingly, our students walked away feeling both challenged and empowered to consider how they could work individually, and collectively, to stand up for human rights, for freedom and for justice.    

Parent Teacher Interviews

A friendly reminder to all that Parent Teacher Interviews are taking place on Wednesday, 12 September from 4.00pm to 7.30pm and also on Thursday, 20 September from 4.00pm to 7.30pm in the College gymnasium. Bookings for all year levels are now open on Siena Central and will close at 4.00pm on the day preceding the interviews.  We look forward to seeing you there.

Interim Reports

The 2018 Semester 2 Interim Reports are now available on Siena Central and you are welcome to bring them with you to your Parent Teacher Interview for discussion. 

Key Dates

Additional Key Dates for the Term can be found on the College website under News and Events.

Annual Music Concert

This year’s Annual Music Concert, Sisterhood, showcased our young women coming together to share their music with the school community. It was the first year where the concert was held at Eldon Hogan Performing Arts Centre, Xavier College. The music ensembles performed works that celebrate the work of female composers and performers who have lead the way for up and coming female musicians, as well as works inspired by the lives and stories of young women. The concert featured Junior Band, Symphonic Band, Wind Orchestra, Groove Train, Planet Groove, Sisters of Swing, Stage Band, Senior Strings, Junior Strings, Folkus, Guitar Ensemble, Senior Choir, Junior Choir, Canti Dolce and Year 12 Band. I would like to congratulate all students and staff in the Music department for a wonderful concert.

Victorian Schools Music Festival

Throughout the month of August, Wind Orchestra, Symphonic Band and Groove Train participated in the Victorian Schools Music Festival.  The three ensembles represented the school very well and were all awarded Silver Shields for their performances. I would like to congratulate all students and their directors for working hard and performing so well.

The Boy from Oz 

The Year 9 Music Performance class have been learning about musicals and performance skills. On the Wednesday, 22 August, the class went to see The Boy from Oz at the State Theatre in the city. For many of them, this was the first time they have attended a musical at the State Theatre. It was a fantastic experience for the students to learn about Peter Allen, an Australian iconic performer and the elements of a musical. 

Siena College has been performing extremely well this term in Soccer, with the Junior and Intermediate teams both close to securing finals. The Junior team has the only perfect record across all teams in each zone (all wins), which is a fantastic effort. There are a number of Volleyball teams doing very well, with all of the Junior 1 (A, B and C) teams likely to be in the finals. Siena’s Badminton players have also represented Siena College well across all levels. This week was the last week of ordinary GSV Term 3 competition, with finals next week. Siena College is poised to do very well across many levels and sports and we wish all the best to our participants!

Our Aerobics team continues to develop and represent Siena College very well. Recently they had a competition meet at Melbourne Girls’ College, with a number of Siena teams and participants gaining first, second and other high results. The group is now focusing on the major tournament, the National Aeroschools Competition on the Gold Coast, with nineteen Siena students poised to represent the College. Good luck, girls! 

While the Athletics season is almost over, it has been amazing period. We have participated in a number of GSV events, as well as the Siena College Athletics Carnival on Tuesday, 21 August . The team has been working hard over the past term, with weekly training sessions and GSV preliminary meets culminating in the GSV Athletics Division 3 Championships on Wednesday, 29 August. With a strong representative team, Siena College finished third overall. Our Juniors placed first, Intermediates fifth and our Seniors placed second. A fantastic effort!  After this strong performance, we have a number of students who will represent Siena at the GSV Finals Evening on Tuesday, 11 September at Lakeside Stadium.

Siena College also recently participated in the 2018 Victorian Interschools Snowsports Championships at Mount Buller.  Our students had a wonderful time competing in near perfect conditions.

On an individual note, Jordyn Kourmadias was a part of the 2017 Australian National Under 14s team, representing Asia Pacific in the Junior NBA World Championships in Orlando, Florida. Jordyn helped her team reach the grand final of the International Division, finishing runners up. A huge congratulations goes out to Jordyn on this amazing effort.     

Term 4 is coming up soon, with Siena College entering a number of Basketball, Cricket and Junior Water Polo teams. We look forward to another exciting GSV season. 

On Wednesday, 5 September, Siena again staged our annual competition for public speaking. The event is named in honour of a Dominican friar, Antonio de Montesinos, who lived five centuries ago. Appalled at the cruel enslavement of indigenous people in the place we now know as Haiti and the Dominican Republic, Antonio delivered a famous sermon in which he sharply criticised Spanish colonists and slave traders. Eventually, he managed to persuade King Ferdinand of Spain that slavery is wrong and consequently, the first ever documents designed to protect indigenous people came into being. Antonio de Montesinos changed the course of history by bravely speaking his truth.

This year, four students also showed bravery by participating in this challenging competition. They were Ella Frausing (Year 12), Jade Devlin (Year 11), Amanda Marasco (Year 9) and Micayla Victor (Year 7).  The girls spoke with conviction on their selected topics, which were required to show a connection to our College theme for 2018: 'One Body, Many Parts'. The students were also required to make an impromptu speech on a topic given to them just five minutes beforehand. 

At the conclusion of the competition, audience members commented very positively on the impressively high standard set by the speakers and the way in which each student approached their speeches. Certainly, the adjudicators had difficulty in reaching their decisions regarding to whom presentation of the trophy and encouragement award medal would be made. At the final tally, only a handful of points separated the four girls. 

After very careful deliberation by the adjudicators, Jade Devlin was announced as the winner of the 2018 Antonio de Montesinos Award. Amanda Marasco received the Encouragement Award. 

Jade will recite her winning speech at the next school assembly. It will also be reproduced in the 2018 Siena College Yearbook.

Public speaking is alive and well at Siena College!

On Tuesday, 28 August, Kingswood College hosted a Northern Star Chess Tournament for primary and secondary schools. Siena College attended the event with ten participants: Nicole Ahn, Renata Fanthome, Mia Fenton, Estelle Jones, Siena Justus, Zoe Kelly, Emily Ovens, Angelina Rodos, Jasmine Skutela and Micayla Victor. The girls were selected to attend based on their commitment to Siena’s own Chess Club, which meets every Wednesday at lunchtime in the Albertus Magnus Library. 

For five of the students, it was their very first Chess Tournament so they were very excited, if not a bit nervous, especially when a Year 7 student competed with a Year 12 student in the first round.

There were over one hundred students competing from a number of schools around Melbourne.  Each student played seven games of fifteen minutes against students from the other competing schools in a round robin tournament.  The games all began with a friendly handshake and a cheery 'good luck!', but after that it was down to the serious business of attempting to trounce your opponent on the chessboard!  

Congratulations to Zoe Kelly, Angelina Rodos and Jasmine Skutela who qualified for the Victorian State Secondary Girls final which will be held at St Catherine’s College, Toorak on the Tuesday, 16 October.

The next tournament will be on the Tuesday, 18 September in Castlemaine. 

On Thursday, 9 August, Siena College hosted students from Christian, Jewish and Muslim schools, keen to engage in interfaith dialogue, promoting mutual understanding, respect and ethical behaviour across religious diversities to encourage the development of competent global leaders of the 21^st century. Our Year 10 Building Bridges students presented this program with confidence and pride in their Dominican and faith traditions, showcasing the College and our Catholic identity.

If the visiting schools arrived early enough, we treated them to a tour of the College ahead of the main program of the night. Engaged and animated chatter filled the air as questions and answers brimming with pride reflected respectful yet probing dialogue. 

The first session began in our beautiful Convent courtyard with a warm welcome and explanation as to the purpose of, and history behind, our Tuscan styled cloisters. We visited the Prioress' cell and the Archives room before all eighty of us squeezed in to our stunning but tiny chapel. Again, our Year 10 students spoke with confidence about the significance of the altar, the Tabernacle and  the Stations of the Cross. St Catherine’s relic featured which created a range of interested responses from those from other traditions. 

Once settled in the Hall, our Year 10 students spoke with conviction to the Building Bridges cohort about that which is unique to Catholicism, our understanding of the Sacraments as key highlights/markers of our faith journey, the significance of Catholic Social Teaching and the beauty of the Dominican charism. We shared photos, and artefacts by way of the Baptismal candle, Christening robe, rosary beads and our new Catholic Social Teaching poster.

Our delicious halal/kosher dinner was enjoyed by all. Encounter and dialogue featured as we celebrated the company of our guests with this shared quintessential human experience. The evening concluded in small group discussions of mixed genders. This last session was pronounced, ‘way too short’ and ‘hugely successful’ by all participating. Our final Building Bridges evening will be held at Bialik College in a couple of weeks to which we look forward with great anticipation. 

‘I enjoyed hosting the Building Bridges night as it was fascinating to hear about the similarities and differences between schools from different beliefs and faith traditions. It’s interesting to ask people questions about their religions as this isn’t something that you often discuss. We have all met so many lovely people and it was nice to show them what our school is like and to talk to them about both religious and everyday things.’ Hannah Hine, Year 10

On Thursday, 16 August, Siena hosted Julie Arliss, an international presenter from the UK, Director and Founder of Academy Conferences, a former Cambridge CIE examiner, and a Fellow at Harris Manchester Oxford University, 2018. She presented to our Year 11 students for their third Eckhart seminar and challenged them to consider ‘The Philosophy of Sex’. 

Julie deconstructed modern attitudes to women as portrayed through the media and movies which can continue to uphold and reinforce values of gender inequality. Our students came to realise that many had accepted these ideas unquestioningly in film and text. Julie differentiated between ways of interpreting love as well as intimacy. She also explored the ideas of famous philosophers; Plato’s view of spiritual love, free of lust, with a focus on the adoration for one’s soul, rather than the physical self; as well as the beliefs of Aristotle, that all things, including relationships, can enable the potential in each partner through shared virtue. This love reflects our pursuit of happiness. Julie ultimately linked this with Christian love, emphasising that all love is formed in the image of God, and that, as his followers, we are called to love and cherish all of his divine creations.

Our key learning in Year 10 Religion and Society Unit 2 is centred on Ethics. We were privileged to secure Julie to present a Masterclass to our Year 10 cohort on Relativism. She approached this learning from two perspectives: Cognitive Relativism, which is subjective, and Cultural Relativism, which is social. Julie argued that with Relativism, there is no single moral standard that applies to all people and all places. She drew on art (Caravaggio’s painting, The Sacrifice of Isaac), and famous philosophers, from Nietzsche to Immanuel Kant, to highlight that, if morality is culturally defined, only those who are part of the culture can be part of the conversation. Julie was able to reinforce the way this attitude, in turn, has massive Justice implications if we are working to overcome slavery, prejudice and human rights issues across the world.

Such enrichment in the learning of Religion and Society at Year 10 and 11 should develop critical thinking, engagement with the big, existential questions of life and recognition of the importance of the inquiry process. Julie’s passion for a structured philosophical and ethical approach to learning and as a way to access deeper thinking is contagious and inspired so many of our students to want to explore Philosophy and Ethics further. 

This week’s Siena Career News features information on a webinar for Year 12s about to sit the CASPer Test.  The CASPer test is a compulsory requirement for entry into Education/Teaching at Tertiary Institutions nationally and students in Year 12 should have registered to sit the test in the next school holidays.  The webinar will talk students through what the test looks like (webcam is required) and what the possible questions will be like.

There is also an Extension Studies Evening at Monash University.  Extension Studies, also known as VCE Extension, are University level subject/units that a Year 12 student can pick up as part of their VCE program (usually available if they have completed a Unit 3 and 4 sequence in a similar subject area in Year 11).

Medicine is always a popular career choice and Bond University’s medical degree offers the shortest pathway to becoming a doctor: Four years and eight months.  See the latest Siena Career News for more details.  You will also find information on a new 'Pre-Medicine' university degree at the University of Woolongong.

Many Fine Arts and Design courses at Tertiary Institutions require a folio for entry. Deakin University is holding a Portfolio Information Evening for students applying for these courses and further details can be found in the Siena Career News.

Siena Career News

https://www.careertools.com.au/mailplag/download.php?id=12456

Father's Day Breakfast 

The Siena Parents' Association (SPA) hosted the annual Father's Day Breakfast on Friday, 31 August. The event was, yet again, a fantastic success with a full house of Siena students and their dads gathering in the College gym for a hearty breakfast of bacon and eggs, muffins, fruit and yoghurt.  Our guest speaker for the morning was Siena staff member, Martin Gibbs who reflected on his own experiences as a dad. Thank you to Martin and all of our SPA volunteers for your help hosting this wonderful event. 

If you would like to view and/or purchase any of the professional photographs taken on the morning, visit www.makphotos.com.au, click 'View Your Photos' and enter password: scfd310818.